Buying your Way into Heaven: Education and Corruption in International Perspective 9789087907297, 9789087907273, 9789087907280

Table of contents :
Buying Your Way into Heaven: Education and Corruption in International Perspective
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Education Corruption in International Perspective: An Introduction
2. ‘I Invited Her to My Office’: Normalising Sexual Violence in a Nigerian College of Education
3. When Schools Fail to Protect Girls: School-Related Gender-Based Sexual Violence in Sub-Saharan Africa
4. “The Tricks of the Teacher”: Shadow Education and Corruption in Cambodia
5. Corruption in Vietnamese Higher Education
6. Moral Standards and the Professor: A Study of Faculty at Universities in Georgia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
7. Models of Corruption and How Students Could Respond: Corruption Experienced by the Students during Their Studies in Macedonia and Their AnticorruptionMeasures
8. The European Higher Education Area as an Instrument of Transparency?
9. The Role of International Organisations in Fighting Education Corruption
About the Authors
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES ON HIGHER EDUCATION

Citation preview

BUYING YOUR WAY INTO HEAVEN

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GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES ON HIGHER EDUCATION Volume 15 Higher education worldwide is in a period of transition, affected by globalization, the advent of mass access, changing relationships between the university and the state, and the new technologies, among others. Global Perspectives on Higher Education provides cogent analysis and comparative perspectives on these and other central issues affecting postsecondary education worldwide.

Series Editor: Philip G. Altbach Center for International Higher Education, Boston College

Editorial Board: Manuel Gil Antón, Autonomous Metropolitan University of Mexico, Tlalpan, Mexico Molly Lee, UNESCO Bangkok, Thailand Damtew Teferra, Ford International Fellowship Program, New York, USA

This series is co-published with the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College.

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Buying Your Way into Heaven Education and Corruption in International Perspective

Edited by Stephen P. Heyneman Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA

SENSE PUBLISHERS ROTTERDAM / TAIPEI

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A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN 978-90-8790-727-3 (paperback) ISBN 978-90-8790-728-0 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-8790-729-7 (e-book)

Published by: Sense Publishers, P.O. Box 21858, 3001 AW Rotterdam, The Netherlands http://www.sensepublishers.com

Printed on acid-free paper

All rights reserved © 2009 Sense Publishers No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Education Corruption in International Perspective: An Introduction Stephen P. Heyneman 2. ‘I Invited Her to My Office’: Normalising Sexual Violence in a Nigerian College of Education Salihu Bakari and Fiona Leach

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3. When Schools Fail to Protect Girls: School-Related Gender-Based Sexual Violence in Sub-Saharan Africa John M. Collins

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4. “The Tricks of the Teacher”: Shadow Education and Corruption in Cambodia Walter Dawson

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5. Corruption in Vietnamese Higher Education Dennis C. McCornac 6. Moral Standards and the Professor: A Study of Faculty at Universities in Georgia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan Stephen P. Heyneman 7. Models of Corruption and How Students Could Respond: Corruption Experienced by the Students during Their Studies in Macedonia and Their Anticorruption Measures Bojan Maricik

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8. The European Higher Education Area as an Instrument of Transparency? Sjur Bergan

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9. The Role of International Organisations in Fighting Education Corruption Pasi Sahlberg

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About the Authors

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EDUCATION CORRUPTION IN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE: AN INTRODUCTION1

Su Shun was effective and ruthless. He concentrated on a single, highly visible case of corruption involving the Imperial Civil Service examination. The exam was given annually and touched the lives of thousands throughout the country. In his report to Emperor Hsien Feng, Su Shen charged five highranking judges with accepting bribes. Also in his report he presented 91 cases in which test scores had been mishandled, and challenged the past year’s first-place winner. To restore the reputation of the civil service, the Emperor ordered the beheading of all five judges and the first-place winner. People cheered the action, and Su Shun became a household name Su Chen was a descendent of the founder of the Ch’ing Dynasty. (Min, 2004, p. 150) WHAT IS EDUCATION CORRUPTION AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Education is commonly thought to be a haven for the young. No matter how unstable the polity, no matter how dismal the prospects for the economy, education investments are treated as sacrosanct. This is one reason for the popularity of the initiative created by the World Bank, UNESCO, UNPP and UNICEF in 1990 to focus attention on school attendance in low-income countries called ‘Basic Education-For-All’. Who could object to putting children in school? However, recently it has been discovered that education systems can be as corrupt as other parts of government and the economy; and that universalistic values of fairness and impartiality, once thought to be universal characteristics of education systems, can be supplanted by the interests of specific individuals, families and ethnic groups. Corruption in public affairs includes the abuse of authority for material gain. But because education is an important public good, professional standards include more than just material goods; hence the definition of education corruption includes the abuse of authority for both personal as well as material gain. An –––––––––––––– 1 Adapted from Heyneman (2007).

S.P. Heyneman (ed.), Buying Your Way into Heaven, 1–8. © 2009 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

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education system can be corrupt in four ways: (i) through its education functions, (ii) through the supply of goods and services, (iii) through professional misconduct, and (iv) in the treatment of taxation and property. Educational Functions These can include the assessment of student achievement. This includes how grades are assigned, how students are selected to elite training programs and how universities acquire accreditation from government agencies. Students may pay a bribe for a particular grade assigned by a department chair, over and above the authority of the classroom teacher. After passing all of her PhD examinations and submitting her thesis, one student in Central Asia had a delay of several years because the chair of her dissertation committee kept raising his bribe before he would sign the final papers (Heyneman, 2008). Admissions to universities may include private bribes to the admission committees or to department chairs. Students may pay bribes to have access to university-owned housing, access to their personal transcripts or a book in the library for which there are only a few copies. A professor may demand that a student show him the sales receipt so that he knows the student had purchased his personally-written textbook instead of obtaining the book in the library. Between 80–84% of the university students in Bulgaria, Moldova and Serbia are aware of illegal bribes to gain admission; between 28–36% think that admission test scores can be changed. On average, between 18% and 20% of the students in Bulgaria, Croatia and Serbia, and 40% of the students in Moldova report that they had used some illegal method to gain university admission (Heyneman, Anderson, and Nuraliyeva, 2008, forthcoming). New degree programs and a plethora of private (usually proprietary) higher education institutions in South and East Asia, Europe and Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and in Sub-Saharan Africa all have to be ‘recognized’ by (usually government) accreditation committees. These committees remain in the hands of rectors of the traditional institutions who have an interest in limiting competition. The system of licensing (certifying professionals) is responsible for many sources of corruption. University programs are endowed with this authority hence the functions of accreditation and licensing are combined. Whenever higher education institutions are associated with licensure the stakes for accreditation are high, and the private bribe price for accreditation will be high. Supply of Goods and Services The education system in any country is a massive enterprise. Students need to be supplied with furniture, reading and writing materials, pedagogical equipment of many times. The buildings in which they work must be constructed and maintained. In 2000, the education in North America constituted an industry of 86 billion dollars (Heyneman, 2001). In spite of the common political and economic

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reasons presented,2 governments have long been known to monopolize the supply of education goods and services for reasons of private pecuniary gain. New socialist nations of East Africa in the 1960s nationalized schools supplies in order to levy a hidden tax for attending public schools. School fees were required for attendance. Those fees were to finance school supplies. But the value of the supplies was systematically less then the value of the original fees. The missing monies were used for private purposes of government ministers (Heyneman, 1975). Thought necessary for reasons of national pride, writing ‘local’ textbooks is used by ministers of education as a means to exploit a monopoly over the nations’ largest reading population and to enrich themselves (Heyneman, 2006). Professional Misconduct There are many forms of professional misconduct in education (Braxton, and Bayer, 1999). Among the most common: – Accepting material gifts or rewards in exchange for positive grades, assessments or selection to specialized programs. – Biasing a grade or an assessment because of family or other private requests – Assigning of grades or assessments biased by a student’s race, culture, social class, ethnicity, or other ascriptive attributes – Forcing pupils to take ‘private fee paying lessons’ to pass teacher based assessments of student progress – Disclosing confidential information about a student – Sexually or otherwise exploiting, harassing or discriminating against particular students – Adopting an inadequate textbook or educational product because of a manufacturer’s gifts or incentives – Forcing students to purchase materials where profits accrue to the instructor – Ignoring the misconduct of colleagues – Utilizing school public property for private gain There have yet to be systematic surveys of misconduct, but there is anecdotal evidence of sexual harassment of students in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. And there are reports that teachers in Latin America force students to pay fees for private lessons before they will be passed on to the next grade. Property and Taxes Educational facilities often occupy prime locations in urban areas. These can be rented or leased for both educational and other purposes. Many institutions must supplement public with non-public income. But how should educational property and educational income be treated: as private or public? Should it be taxed? Should –––––––––––––– 2 These include the need to protect local employment, the necessity of having a grace period for ‘infant industries’, the inadequate market for private suppliers and the saving of foreign exchange.

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they be taxed as the same rate as profit-making institutions? As profit-making institutions which have no public good purposes? This area is in flux. International precedents are unknown and legal principles unexplored. Because of the confusion in terms and the lack of experience, the arena of education property and educational taxes has become a source of illegal activity. Whenever there is significant ambiguity over legal principles and precedent, bribery is common. WHY IS EDUCATION CORRUPTION IMPORTANT?

Since the time of Plato, it has generally been understood that a key ingredient in the making of a successful nation/state is how it chooses its technical, commercial, military and political leaders. In general it is agreed that no modern nation can be credible if leaders are chosen on the basis of ascriptive characteristics, i.e., the characteristics with which they were born – race, gender and social status. On the other hand, it is common for families to try to protect and otherwise advantage their own children and relatives. Every parent wishes success for his own child; every group wishes to see success of children from their particular group. This is normal. Schooling provides the mechanism through which these opposing, yet legitimate, influences can be managed fairly. It is the common instrument used by nations to ‘refresh’ the sources of its leadership. Economists have attempted to understand the sacrifice in economic growth if there is a serious bias in the selection of its leaders (Klitgaard, 1986). It has been estimated, for instance, that developing countries could improve their GNP/capita by five percent if they were to base their leadership upon merit as opposed to gender or social status (Pinera & Selowsky, 1981). In fact, by some estimates, the economic benefit to developing countries of choosing leaders on the basis of merit would be three times more than the benefit accruing from a reduction in trade restrictions for imports to OECD countries (Kirmani et al., 1984). Success in schooling is one of the few background characteristics seen as necessary for modern leadership. Although it is possible for leaders to emerge through experience, good fortune and military power, getting ahead in school is essential for leadership in a modern democracy. But what if schooling itself is not fair? What if the public comes to believe that the provision of schooling favors one social group? What if the public does not trust in the judgment of teachers on student performance? What would happen if the process of schooling had been corrupted? In a democracy, the public takes a keen interest in the fairness of its education system. If the public does not trust the education system to be fair or effective, more may be sacrificed than economic growth. It might be said that current leaders, whether in commerce, the military, science or politics, had acquired their positions through privilege rather than achievement. If the school system cannot be trusted, it may detract from a nation’s sense of social cohesion, the principal ingredient of all successful modern societies (Heyneman, 2004).

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WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF A CORRUPT EDUCATION SYSTEM?

One universal function of education is to certify the acquisition of knowledge and skills and to identify those who may deserve more specialized training. The assumption is that this process is unbiased by ascriptive characteristics, race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, gender. It is common that ascriptive characteristics do in fact play a role in both of these functions, and this helps explain why it is usually illegal and frequently a subject of political attention, court action, fines, penalties and occasionally prison. Corruption is similar in that it is illegal, but rarely is it the subject of the same political attention as other illegal actions. Often it is ignored. In many instances it is denied. It is embarrassing. Excuses are common. Corruption is attributed to low salaries of educators, or an environment in which traditions have broken down and where the economy has declined. Economic hardship is commonly given as a rationale. In instances where corruption is a function of family influences (e.g., your mother insists you give your niece a good grade), tradition is given as a rationale. After all this is a part of their culture, what can you expect? Whatever the rationale, the effects are profound. When education looses impartiality, it looses quality. When education looses quality individual and community economic returns to education investments are reduced. Those who use educational products (employers) have to allocate their own resources to make up for the reduction in educational quality. Where corruption is high, the economic rates of return to education investments may be reduced by as much as 70% and lifetime earnings of individuals might be reduced by as much as 50% (Heyneman, Anderson & Nuraliyeva, 2008). Where corruption in higher education approaches 50% (where over 50% of the students report having had experience with illegal payments), employers cannot trust what graduates will know and be able to do. Employers in Central Asia for instance, attempt to hire new employees from universities known for a lack of corruption (foreign universities). Employees from potentially corrupt universities have to be placed in specialized training programs to test whether they had the skills required. Employers are to administer special tests to differentiate those who bought their degrees from those who achieved them in the expected fashion (Heyneman, Anderson, & Nuraliyeva, 2008). The use of these sorting devises imposes additional costs on firms, and significant costs on the applicants. For instance, applicants from universities with reputations for corruption are not considered for technical or professional jobs and are regularly screened out of jobs in international firms. Corruption imposes costs even on applicants who may not have engaged in corrupt practices. There is a negative connotation of being an applicant engineer from any country where corruption in higher education is common; many will never be considered credible in international firms with access to job applicants from all regions of the world. It is possible to think of particular regions in the world which have already reached the ‘tipping point’, where corruption in the education system is so pervasive that the future social cohesion is in danger (Silova, Johnson, & Heyneman, 2007).

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WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT EDUCATION CORRUPTION?

Necessary measures can be grouped into four categories. These include: 1. Structural reforms necessary to reduce the opportunity for corruption – the establishment of an autonomous examination and accreditation agency, separating the process of certification from higher education institutions, clear ownership of educational property, tax differentiation between for profit and not0for-profit educational institutions, and the freedom for non-profit educational institutions to seek monetary support without being subject to taxation. 2. Mechanisms for adjudication and management – the establishment of professional boards, university boards of trust, school boards, public ombudsmen, and faculty/student code of conduct boards to hear cases of infractions and to recommend consequences. 3. Preventive Mechanisms – ‘Blue Ribbon’ committees, annual reports to the public on education corruption, public access to financial statement of educational institutions, codes of conduct for administrators, faculty and students, public advertisements for all codes of conduct, anti-corruption commissions and a free and active education press 4. Sanctions – criminal penalties for economic and professional misconduct, public exposure, dismissal from employment, fines payable to the victim for professional misconduct, and withdrawal of license to practice. Some might argue that education corruption is ‘cultural’; that certain cultures do not consider it to be a serious problem. In my experience, this is not true. All cultures are shamed by unfairness, and no society is absent of rules of fairness within the education system. As a norm in education, fairness is universal. What does differ is how to treat the evidence. In some instances, shame may prevent one from admitting the obvious. When this occurs, corruption will remain unaddressed and will spread like a cancer until trust is absent and the value of educational investments is reduced to virtually zero. One other implication might be mentioned. Development assistance agencies – the World Bank, the regional development banks and most bi-lateral aid organizations – make investments in higher education justified by the expectation of economic and social benefits. These agencies may have to re-think their strategies when it is understood that the impact of their investments are reduced when made in higher education systems with high levels of perceived corruption (Heyneman, Anderson, & Nuraliyeva, 2008). Education institutions and education systems are not free of corruption just because there are no data on corruption. The absence of fact does not lessen corruption’s effect. To combat corruption, each minister of education and the rector of each university must now demonstrate that corruption is under control. Those that do not give evidence that corruption is under control will be assumed to be of low quality. 6

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EXAMPLES AND DISCUSSION

This book contains illustrations of education corruption from different parts of the world. The article by Saliju Bakari and Fiona Leach, “I invited her to my office: Normalising sexual violence in a Nigerian college of education” and by John Collins, “When schools fail to protect girls: School related gender-based violence in Sub-Saharan Africa” are drawn from Africa. Both report that the characteristics of corruption are largely a function of sexual misconduct. These are illustrations of a teacher’s abuse of professional authority. Collins, however, reports that on occasion the initiator of the misconduct can be a student using sexual favours to gain academic favour. Two articles are drawn from Asia. In the case of Walter Dawson, “The tricks of the teacher: Shadow education and corruption in Cambodia,” teachers are found to be entrepreneurs who use their authority over students to augment their income. However Dawson finds that their actions are consistent with government behaviour more broadly. This characterization is substantiated by Dennis McComac in his article on “Corruption in Vietnamese higher education,” where he describes the use of bribes in higher education as ‘the norm’ rather than the exception. Two articles are drawn from the post socialist part of the world. One is from the former Soviet Union, by myself titled: “Moral standards and the professor: A study of faculty at universities in Georgia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.” Except in universities with international accreditation, bribery is found to be common. Nevertheless teachers may also alter the grade of a student because of family or personal relations, not only because of monetary gain. In this region corruption extends to higher education administration through bribes to ministry officials for accreditation, to deans and department chairs who over-rule the teacher’s grades in exchange for a bribe and to faculty who may withhold their signature on a dissertation until a bribe is paid. In spite of these examples it is also found that there are a small but important group of ‘resisters’, faculty who do not engage in corrupt practices regardless of how common these practices are among their colleagues. These ‘silent heroes’ may represent a strength in the common ideal of the higher education professoriate. In an article written by Bojan Maricik, “Models of corruption experienced by the students during the studies and anti-corruption measures conducted by the students in Macedonia,” represents the experience of students who have experienced education corruption and describes the things which they have done to reduce it. And there are two articles from the European Union. In his article “The European higher education area as an instrument of transparency,” Sjur Bergman discusses the Bologna Process and other mechanisms which influence the countries of eastern and central Europe. He suggests that the Council of Europe and other regional institutions may be used as a means of encouraging greater transparency in education. The article by Pasi Sahlberg, “The role of international organizations in building trust and combating corruption,” carefully lays out what each European institution is doing to combat education corruption and assist those countries suffering from it. The European Training Foundation in some ways has led the way 7

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in this effort and will likely be a strong factor in helping solve the problem in the Europe and Central Asia region. This book represents the most recent illustrations of what may become a global issue. More research and monitoring are needed, as are additional illustrations from other parts of the world. Though education corruption may be a world-wide phenomenon, it emerges differently in different regions. It is hoped that this book will help launch a broad effort to better understand and reduce it. REFERENCES Braxton, J. M. & Bayer, A. E. (1999). Faculty misconduct in collegiate teaching. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Heyneman, S. P. (1975). Changes in efficiency and equity accruing from government involvement in primary education. African Studies Review (April), 51-60. Heyneman, S. P. (2001). The growing international market for education goods and services. International Journal of Education Development, 21 (July), 345-361. Heyneman, S. P. (2004). Education and corruption. International Journal of Education Development, 24, 637-648. Heyneman, S. P. (2006). The role of textbooks in a modern system of education. In C. Bralavsky (Ed.), Textbooks and the quality learning for all: Some lessons learned from international experience (pp. 31–93). Geneva: International Bureau of Education. Heyneman, S. P. (2007). Buying your way into heaven: The corruption of education systems in global perspectives. Perspectives on Global Issues, 2(1), 1-8. Heyneman, S. P. (2008). Three universities in Georgia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan: The struggle against corruption and for social cohesion. UNESCO Prospects, 3 (September), 305-318. Heyneman, S. P., Anderson, K. H., & Nuraliyeva, N. (2008). The cost of corruption in higher education. Comparative Education Review, 51(2), 1-25. Kirmani, N. et al. (1984). Effects of increased market access on exports of developing countries. IMF Working Paper, Vol. 34 No. 4. Washington D.C.: International Monetary Fund. Klitgaard, R. (1986). Elitism and meritocracy in developing countries. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Min, A. (2004). Empress orchid. New York: Houghton Mifflin. Pinera, S. & Selowsky, M. (1981). The optimal ability-education mix and the misallocation of resources within education. Journal of Development Economics, 8. Silova, I., Johnson, M., & Heyneman, S. P. (2007). Education and the crisis of social cohesion in Azerbaijan and Central Asia. Comparative Education Review, 51(2), 159-180.

AFFILIATIONS

Stephen P. Heyneman Peabody College Vanderbilt University Nashville, Tennessee USA

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‘I INVITED HER TO MY OFFICE’: NORMALISING SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN A NIGERIAN COLLEGE OF EDUCATION*

INTRODUCTION

This chapter explores sexual violence in a college of education in Northern Nigeria, drawing on empirical data collected in 2002–2003. It investigates the nature and scale of this violence and reveals how it was sustained through a sexually explicit male discourse which presented female sexuality as flawed and debased. The absence of any national legislation regarding sexual harassment in institutions in Nigeria, combined with weak enforcement of existing policies and procedures intended to ensure equal opportunity and professional standards in the college, allowed male lecturers, management and students to engage with impunity in acts of sexual violence towards female students. Nationally, Nigeria has a wide gender gap in literacy, school enrolments, share of national income, and participation in the labour market and in public office (UNDP, 2006). In 2004 there were only 55 female students to every 100 male students at the tertiary level (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2006). Not surprisingly, educational environments tend to be male-oriented and malecontrolled and provide the contexts in which various forms of discrimination against women flourish. Colleges of education are no exception. Acceptance of institutionalised forms of sexual violence among trainee teachers helps to explain the prevalence of such violence in schools, where it is perpetrated by teachers and students, tolerated by the authorities, and normalised by victims as well as perpetrators (Dunne, Humphreys, & Leach, 2006; Leach & Humphreys, 2007). The chapter starts with a brief overview of the research setting and research design; it then documents the nature and scale of sexual violence in the college, drawing on personal accounts from interviews with staff and students, and from student essays. Central to this violence was the sexual exploitation of female students, facilitated by their subordinate position in the college in terms of both gender and authority (and, to a lesser extent, age). The chapter goes on to reveal how the male construction of violence generated a range of discursive strategies, which were used to facilitate, justify and normalise sexually violent acts against female students. –––––––––––––– * Chapter first appears as in Dunne, M. (ed.) (2008) Gender, sexuality, and development: Education and society in Sub-Saharan Africa. Netherlands: Sense Publishers.

S.P. Heyneman (ed.), Buying Your Way into Heaven, 9–21. © 2009 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

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Although sexual violence against female staff was widespread,1 it is not covered in this chapter. Violence between male students and between female students may also have existed but no respondent brought this up either in interviews or essays and it was not explored by the researcher. Relations among staff and students were presented exclusively in heterosexual terms. Following Kelly (1988), who argued that sexual violence should ‘cover all forms of abuse, coercion and force that women experience from men’ (p. 59 cited in Hearn, 1996, p. 33) we have used the term broadly to include the (often overlapping) categories of physical, verbal and psychological violence uncovered by the research. Behaviour commonly labelled as ‘sexual harassment’ or ‘sexual abuse’ is subsumed under this broader term. The Research Context The college is one of 20 federal colleges of education in Nigeria providing training for primary and secondary teachers leading to a Certificate of Education. Although located in the Northern region, its staff and student body at the time of the research reflected the full range of geopolitical and ethno-religious groups across the country’s 36 states. In terms of gender balance, 25 percent of academic staff and 31 percent of students were female while almost all the senior management were male. The male researcher was a member of the academic staff at the time. Being both a man engaging in feminist research in a male-dominated institutional environment and an insider to the research setting presented a range of challenges. However, it also offered unique insights into the ways in which men were able to pursue their activities unchallenged – insights which might well not have been accessible to a female researcher. The findings reported here are drawn primarily from interviews with 23 female and 22 male students, four mixed-gender focus group discussions with students and a selection of the 1,000 student essays collected by the researcher on perceptions and experiences of gender inequity in the college. Interviews with 33 members of academic staff (15 female) also provided data. Sexual violence was a major thread running through the data. SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND VICTIMISATION

Feminist research has situated men’s violence at the heart of patriarchy, which seeks to sustain and perpetuate itself through the subordination of women (Hearn, 1998; Beasley, 1999; Connell, 2003). Violence is also a resource for the construction and reproduction of hegemonic gender relations, especially certain versions of (hyper)masculinity. In this particular college setting, male staff and students continually sought to re-affirm male hegemony through the sexual exploitation of female students. –––––––––––––– 1 See Bakari and Leach (2007) for a detailed account.

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SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN NIGERIAN TEACHER EDUCATION

All the staff and students interviewed, with the exception of one male student, confirmed that female students were subjected to widespread sexual violence in the college. Some female students recounted personal experiences of being sexually harassed, intimidated and threatened, and many of their essays stated that it was the principal problem affecting their studies. Much of the violence was perpetrated by male lecturers. Female students in interviews estimated that 45–65 percent of male lecturers forcefully sought sexual favours from students, while one female lecturer estimated that two out of every three female students had been approached by at least one lecturer. It was generally acknowledged that many students had to choose between opting to accept the lecturers’ advances and withdrawing from the college. Some of the most compelling evidence of sexual violence was contained in the female student essays. These came from a wide spectrum of the student body, cutting across religious and ethnic backgrounds and courses of study, and included 13 married female students. The following are a few of their statements: … when I have got a problem and I [go] to meet any lecturer to help me solve it; the next thing for him is to expect me to offer him my body before solving the problem for me … even though they are married and have children that are older than me. The lecturers asked that we went out with them to satisfy them. Refusal to such demands will lead to either lowering of our scores or having a carry over at the end of the day again and again. If you refuse they will tell you that you will fail his course. Even when you tell them that you are married, they will tell you that it is better that you are married, because you don’t risk to have a child outside marriage. Some staff were reluctant to admit to its prevalence or downplayed its pervasiveness while others were direct about it, as in the following statement by a male lecturer: Let us be frank to ourselves, the exploitation in this situation is very high, very very high .... It’s almost like if you don’t do it, then give way [let others carry on]. It is really difficult to say that anyone [male lecturer] has not got at least one [female student]. Some lecturers were also remarkably frank about their own involvement with female students. One, who said he was emotionally attached to ‘about four’ female students, explained how these relationships had started: So, you have seen a girl and she appeals to you and you decide now how do I bring her in. You just say to her, ‘Hi, could I send you to buy me something?’ Obviously she will say, ‘Yes’. When she is back, take a smile and appreciate her acceptance and then ask her name, the normal way. Another male lecturer used a different approach:

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I invited her to my office. That is how it started. What we discussed is none of your business [laughed]. The relationship went out smoothly throughout her stay as a student. Although many male lecturers denied it, instructing female students to come to their office and then forcing them into accepting a sexual relationship was common, as one male student made clear: It is common to find that when you knock on an office, you have to wait for a while for the lecturer to open the door for you, and when you go in, you will see a female student at times looking squeezed [dishevelled]. It is common to find lecturers kissing and romancing with students. One male lecturer also admitted it: Now, as we are talking, if you have time to go round the lecturers’ offices, I am sure, I am sure by now if you go into say fifteen lecturers’ offices, out of this number at least you will find eight female students sitting in eight offices ... Inviting female students to their office or sending them on errands were tactics employed by male staff to remind women of the asymmetry in the gender and authority/age relations of the college, and more broadly of Nigerian society, which made it more difficult for female students to refuse their sexual advances. Male staff appeared to consider the opportunity of a sexual relationship with students as a ‘privilege’ of their job. Some also used their position to secure a student in marriage. However, these so-called ‘good intentions’ did not prevent them talking in contemptuous terms about women: So when you want to marry her, you need to put two and two to make her fall into your trap. So, if you want to catch a rat, there are many ways of catching rats. It depends on the trick you use. The consequences for a student of rejecting a lecturer’s advances could be serious: he could choose to fail her in her examinations, refuse to approve her final year project or lower her grades. Some female students reported having personally experienced this. One particularly poignant essay sums up the devastating consequences of such an abuse of power. The author recounts how she resisted the advances of a lecturer for the whole year, but failed in the examination, despite studying hard; he told her that she would never pass his course if she did not agree to have sex with him. And these things made me not get my result [not graduate] in the college, until that fateful day I agreed to what he had said. He slept with me and impregnated me and I went and aborted the child, which I never planned to do in my life ... This man uselessed [destroyed] my life and this makes me to regret of being a girl in my life. Had it been I am a male, this would not have happened to me.

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Bribes were reportedly solicited from female students and/or demands for sex were made when applying for a place in the college. One male lecturer reported his experience as member of a committee which investigated a particular individual regarding admissions practices some years previously: nothing was done to discipline the accused as he was in a powerful senior position, whereas those students who testified against him were dismissed. There is no evidence in the data to suggest that male lecturers were ever penalised for their predatory behaviour towards female students, even if formal complaints were lodged. The college management tended to dismiss reported incidents as rumours or infrequent occurrences, and, in the prevailing weak policy environment, those in positions of authority had a free rein. The lack of support for female students from staff – some heads of department merely advised them to ‘settle their problems’ with lecturers – cut off another avenue for complaint and redress. It is important to note that the culture of intimidation and victimisation permeating college life did not only affect female students. Although they were by far the most vulnerable, male students could also attract unwanted attention from male lecturers, for example if a student was having (or was suspected of having) an affair with a female student whom the lecturer had his eye on. Competition from young male students constituted a threat both to the lecturers’ authority and their masculinity as it undermined the sexual ‘privileges’ to which they felt entitled. When asked what happened if both a student and a lecturer befriended a female student, a male student laughed and said: ‘Ah! Then you are Rest in Peace, Wallahi [By God] RIP’. Several cases were cited of male students who were threatened with exam failure if they continued to be seen in the company of a certain girl. PHYSICAL ASSAULT

Men in positions of power may not need to use physical violence to maintain control over subordinated groups (Hearn, 1998). This was the case with the male staff in the college, who, as has been shown, had other less direct means at their disposal to intimidate female students. Male students, by contrast, lacked the power of the former, and therefore had to resort to acts – or threats – of physical violence.2 Many male students were reported to have beaten female students. Some admitted it openly, with one student even describing how he beat his girlfriend to a state of unconsciousness. A range of excuses were given by male students to justify this behaviour: that the female student was unfaithful or disrespectful, that she had accepted a gift or assistance with academic work and had subsequently turned down the student’s advances, that the student was jealous or drunk, or ‘desperate’. Male students were said to buy drinks and snacks for female students as a way of ‘catching them’ in –––––––––––––– 2 Only one case was cited – by several students – of a male member of staff beating a student: a drunken lecturer was reported to have visited the female students’ hostel in the evening to beat up a particular student who spurned his advances.

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their ‘nets’. A student who failed to anticipate the hidden conditions attached to the offer and made the man look foolish by rejecting him, only had herself to blame if she was beaten. Some students also claimed that women expected to be beaten and were happy about it, citing the example of the female student beaten unconscious by her boyfriend, who apparently refused to let her parents report him to the police. Underlying the widespread acceptance within the male student body of male violence against women, was the belief, grounded in wider societal perceptions, that women were inferior beings and sexual ‘objects’ to be possessed by men. This was made clear in many statements, such as the following from a male student: You know women generally have a very small thinking faculty. As a man there are many strategic ways of manipulating them to fall attracted to you …. Some of them are hooked by just a bottle of coke. They might not know why you offered them, but they find out that they have to pay for it. Rejection by a woman therefore represented an unacceptable challenge to males, which could not go unpunished, as another male respondent cautioned: ‘She can’t take herself so high and escape it. You see, it means she is above men. Is that possible?’ Beating women was seen as a way of ensuring compliance and proving their ‘manhood’. Perhaps surprisingly, some female students supported the actions of male students by blaming women for being unfaithful. However, nobody expected male students to be punished for infidelity – and they were shocked that it ever happened at all. One male student recounted witnessing a female student slapping her boyfriend in the lecture hall; to accept such behaviour was to be ‘not a proper man’. As with complaints about staff, official complaints about harassment and intimidation by male students were dealt with in a cursory manner. Any complaint by a student against another student would be dealt with by the student affairs office, which would usually consider it as nothing more than ‘fighting’ and issue a warning to both parties. Only in exceptional cases might a male student be suspended from the college hostel. The next section examines the way in which this sexual violence was normalised through a male discursive construction of female sexuality as flawed and degraded. It then goes on to reveal how female students responded differently to the structures and processes which were designed to ensure their acquiescence. NORMALISING VIOLENCE THROUGH SEXUALISED DISCOURSE

The use of language in the college was key to institutionalising and sustaining hegemonic gender relations and to contesting claims about the extent and significance of sexual violence and abuse of power. Language has ‘the power to name and define’ (Cameron, 1998, p.148) and, as Clark (1998) notes, ‘naming is a powerful ideological tool. It is an accurate pointer to the ideology of the namer’ (p. 184). Through (re)naming and (re)defining, males in the college sought to invalidate claims of sexual violence while simultaneously humiliating and 14

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dehumanising women. This discourse, which constantly objectified women and labelled female sexuality as flawed, had a cumulative negative effect on female individuality, identity and self-worth, as well as on the way in which women were regarded and treated in the college. It had three notable features: presenting sexual violence as comedy; contesting its existence by re-naming it; and blaming women themselves for any unwelcome sexual advances. Each of these will be considered in turn. Sexual Violence as Comedy For men to feel superior, women must be rendered inferior (Connell, 2003). According to Harlow (1996), persistent slighting remarks about women’s minds, behaviours and bodies form part of a wide range of daily male practices that contribute to the ‘structural location and the general diminishing of women’ (p.68). Using derogatory language about female sexuality and the female experience allowed men to project themselves as the rightful occupiers of the college while obliging women to internalise and accept their inferior status, tolerate discriminatory practices and be content that they were accommodated within a male institution. In particular, males used metaphor as a form of comedy to entertain the male peer group, thus providing a springboard for further violence (Hearn, 1998). The ferocity of this male discourse was shocking, not just in the offensive nature of the language used but also in the disregard for women’s feelings when men discussed female sexuality in their presence. As one example, in a mixed-gender focus group, therefore in front of female students, one male student said: There are many funny names used which try to show that women are very cheap. Some call them ‘Cotonou’, by Cotonou we mean already used property, second-hand. Cotonou3 means the body is new, but the engine is rotten, that’s how they are referred. Other metaphors ascribed to female students by male students were ‘PLC’ [Public Liability Company], ‘snakes’, ‘chameleons’ and ‘bitches’. Male staff and students referred to women in general as ‘food’, ‘meat’, ‘fruits’, ‘public transport’, ‘tortoise’, ‘pot of honey’ and ‘my handbag’.4 As with physical violence, this verbal abuse often occurred when a female student rejected a male’s sexual advances. As one female student wrote: … a female in my department refused a student and she has become the focus of blackmail by male students. They give her all sorts of names, speaking all sorts of bad things against her, even to the point of cartooning her and placing it on the notice boards. –––––––––––––– 3 Second-hand goods are largely imported through Cotonou, Benin Republic. 4 See Bakari and Leach (2007) for offensive language used against female staff.

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Male lecturers also made jokes about the labels they gave women during their lectures, as one male student noted: This morning in our class, a lecturer mentioned a word ‘available’. So, he now said that this word reminded him of what they used to call ladies who don’t have husbands who display themselves plenty in occasions. So the name given to them he said was ‘available’. ... So, this word is also added to my vocabulary. We could call the females here ‘available’. Humour as a weapon for the collective humiliation of women, and as a male bonding ritual (Nayak & Kehily, 2001), fed off the male belief that women existed for the enjoyment of men, a notion that featured prominently in the discourse about gender relations in the college. Knowing that such treatment disturbed and upset women appeared to encourage rather than discourage the men. As the asymmetric power relations in the college made it difficult for women to confront this humiliation, the sustained use of sexual metaphors when talking about, or to, women became embedded in the familiar landscape of the institution. Contesting the Meaning of Sexual Violence Another strategy for ‘normalising’ sexual violence in the college was for male staff and students to contest its existence through defining it narrowly and re-labelling it. Hearn’s (1996) UK study of men’s violence towards known women found that women defined violence widely to cover a range of categories, including the threat of, and the potential for, violence. Men, however, usually restricted it to its physical form – even then, often excluding acts such as pushing, holding or blocking women. Significantly, they rarely associated it with sex or sexuality; that is to say coercive sex was not considered to be violence. This was also the case in the college. The narrow construction of the term allowed the men to dismiss women’s experiences of violence as something ‘normal’ and ‘taken for granted’, as in ‘nothing really happened’ (Kelly & Radford, 1996). By re-labelling their sexual exploitation of female students as a ‘favour’ and ‘privilege’, or as ‘barter’, in other words a mutually agreed transaction, staff were giving legitimacy to acts of sexual aggression. For example, words such as ‘favour’, ‘privilege’ or ‘reward’ were used as substitutes for ‘abuse’, ‘harassment’ or ‘violence’ in male interviews and essays. Paradoxically, the perception that sexual advances by lecturers were in some way advantageous to female students was widespread and may help explain why such behaviour was prevalent in the college. Female students who were ‘chosen’ by lecturers were seen as privileged, as they would receive academic help or access to college facilities such as hostel accommodation. This generated much bitterness among male students who saw themselves in unfair competition with the lecturers, as one wrote:

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Female students’ love by male lecturers stop us from enjoying any privilege. We are like dogs that wait for remnants from a lion. We receive little and thank them so much otherwise we will be in trouble. The male lecturers saw nothing wrong with either party taking advantage of the opportunities available to them, as one explained: As females, they have something to offer …. From my own observation they have a lot to offer to male lecturers so they have more opportunities than the males [laughed]. As you know man is an animal, especially males we have here today are young lecturers with a lot of potentialities for higher libido and the females are very attractive with their charming dress. They explore these opportunities. This perception of mutual advantage was captured by the male staff’s talk of ‘bilateral trade’ and ‘trade links’ with female students. Almost all informants recognised that transactional sex existed in the college and most male students believed that female students used their sexuality to get what they wanted. Some female students did indeed take the view that establishing a relationship with a male staff member protected them from the attention of other lecturers. The extent to which transactional sex had become part of institutional life is illustrated by one female student who lamented the fact that she was not beautiful enough to attract lecturers to ‘trade’ with her and so feared that she would not pass their courses. Hence, survival involved not just submitting oneself to a male lecturer’s demands, but also ‘marketing’ oneself. This view was given some credibility by a dean who remarked that he was not interested in seeing a particular female student in his office because ‘she is not “grabable”’. Did female students willingly enter into such arrangements or did they have no choice? While acknowledging that the boundaries between consensual and coercive sexual relations are sometimes blurred, and that some female students may welcome and/or actively seek a sexual liaison with a lecturer (Bennett, 2002), the evidence from this research suggests that they had little real choice if they wanted to avoid being penalised, threatened or beaten. It may therefore not be an exaggeration to state that – for some at least – having a sexual relationship with a lecturer was an unwritten requirement for female academic success in the college.5 Moreover, the management’s failure to investigate claims of sexual harassment and assault meant that women knew that they had little chance of redress through official channels; ‘barter’ was therefore a safer option.

–––––––––––––– 5 Likewise, female staff claimed that those who refused the sexual advances of members of the college management were victimised in terms of promotion and other privileges (Bakari & Leach, 2007).

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‘Blame the Victim’ A further strategy to justify sexual violence in the college was to blame the women for sexual provocation. Many respondents believed that any female student who dressed ‘provocatively’ or ‘indecently’ was inviting attention of a sexual nature. Thus, women became the harassers of men, who were ‘innocent’ victims. The primary cause of violence against women was therefore the women themselves. This led some men, and even women, to claim that rape and other forms of sexual violence were self-induced. One male lecturer explained that female students harassed them: through their dress, their make-up. Look, let us be sincere with ourselves. We are human beings; we are not woods [i.e. we have emotions]. A girl, a matured girl will put on half-dress, half-naked in front of you, mmh? [Laughed] It is harassing.6 Peer group pressure exacerbated the situation. While male lecturers actively encouraged their colleagues to engage in transactional sexual relationships with students making remarks such as: ‘Is this your handbag?’ male students perceived that, to be considered ‘hard guys’ by their peers, they needed to have a number of girlfriends. At the same time, some female students were being encouraged by their colleagues to accept lecturers’ advances as a way of minimising the risk of victimisation and to gain academic favours. The prevalence of these arrangements made it more difficult for other female students to refuse lecturers’ demands and easier for the latter to punish those who resisted as a deterrent against future resistance by others. COMPROMISE, RESISTANCE AND COLLUSION

The power to protest about sexual violence in the college was constrained by a patriarchal ideology that denied women any active voice in defining, constructing, and interpreting what constituted violence. Since the college adopted the male perspective as ‘standard’, various mechanisms operated, covertly and overtly, to ensure the dominance of men in the institution’s affairs. Students and staff had to accept to live with violence, just as they were compelled to live under male authority. Female students responded in different ways to this situation, while male students also recognised the risk of victimisation by male staff and sought to minimise it. Some female students adopted a strategy of self-censorship, blaming themselves for dressing and putting on make-up in ways that attracted males; they consequently made adjustments to their appearance to avoid drawing attention to –––––––––––––– 6 This perceived ‘menace’ of female dressing has resulted in a federal ministry of education directive that all tertiary institutions must introduce a dress code, and ensure that it is strictly adhered to.

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themselves. By cross-examining their own actions and concluding that their problem was self-inflicted, however, they were accepting a hegemonic male discourse that allowed the real cause of their predicament, the unequal gender power relations in their institution and in society, to remain unchallenged. Others developed strategies to divert the lecturers’ sexual advances. Recognising the potential difficulties that open refusal could bring, they avoided rejecting their advances directly and instead employed delaying tactics, for example by postponing their response to a marriage proposal to the end of their studies. One said she would never tell lecturers openly that she was not interested in their advances; rather she would regularly visit them in their offices, find a range of excuses not to spend more time with them and develop the relationship in such a way that it would be difficult for them to be victimised. Another said: It is true that every day lecturers would want to see female students in the offices. But it is also important to know that at times we dribble them with our tricks. You cannot say to a lecturer ‘I don’t love you’. That will mean digging your grave, but you can buy time. Male students also adopted diversionary tactics: they had coined the term ‘solowards’ whereby they ensured that no male lecturer saw them with a girlfriend whom they suspected was the subject of someone else’s attention. Sometimes they colluded with their girlfriends to pretend that they were relatives. Whereas some female students concluded that the most effective way of avoiding problems was to have a male lecturer as a boyfriend, even ‘marketing’ themselves to achieve this, others decided to openly reject male sexual overtures. Given the power vested in lecturers and the corrupt practices that prevailed in the college, such resistance could be costly, with the risk of traumatic lifelong consequences exemplified by the student who wrote in her essay about becoming pregnant after finally succumbing to a lecturer’s sexual demands. Some married women suffered too: if their husbands decided to withdraw them from the college, they would find it difficult to gain admission to another institution. Resistance to male students’ advances also risked physical punishment. These choices were made by female students in the face of very little support from, or intervention by, female staff, who showed that they had broadly embraced the male hegemony of college life by accepting the ‘normality’ of sexual violence. Some denied that it existed, or blamed the students themselves, for choosing to visit lecturers in their offices and dressing provocatively. Most notably, one female head of department said that sexual harassment was a ‘non-issue’, which only ‘white men’ have time to investigate, and that female students should be flattered by lecturers’ attention: ‘This [sexual harassment] is a simple thing. My belief is that female students should use the opportunity very well and get what they want’. Nevertheless, a few female staff were reported to have taken action to reduce the vulnerability of individual female students to sexual violence. In one example, a female head of department took over a course being taught by a predatory lecturer, although she did not initiate any procedures against him. In another, a female 19

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lecturer with responsibility for allocating supervisors took over the supervision of two female students who had come to her in tears because some lecturers would only approve their final year projects if they agreed to a sexual relationship. CONCLUSION

This chapter has provided a shocking portrayal of sexual violence against female students in a college of education in Northern Nigeria by male lecturers, management and students. There is no reason to believe that it is an isolated case. Indeed, the study suggests that, in institutional settings where accountability is poor, where policies on gender equity either do not exist or can be manipulated or ignored, and where staff understanding of professional conduct is limited, unequal gender and authority-age relations make it relatively easy for the sexual exploitation of female students to flourish. The patriarchal ideology of the college projected men’s actions as the norm and women as ‘intruders’ who should not complain and who should accept men’s definition of, and explanation for, college practices. This included sexual violence as a taken-for-granted aspect of gender relations. In this patriarchal, and largely unaccountable, institutional setting, male staff and management saw the opportunity for sexual favours as a privilege of their position, and used the power invested in their posts to act with impunity and to threaten those who resisted with academic failure. Male students also took advantage of the culture of impunity to pursue their own forms of sexual aggression, but, denied the authority of the staff, they often had to resort to acts, or threats, of physical violence to get what they wanted. This male behaviour was facilitated by a hegemonic male discourse that portrayed women as weak but sexually desirable, and female sexuality as flawed and degraded. Female students responded to male predatory behaviour in diverse ways: accommodating it through compromise, actively pursuing it as a survival strategy, and sometimes resisting it. An institutional environment which has familiarised the country’s future teachers to sexual violence against women and taught them to accept it as ‘normal’ helps explain why it is also accommodated and perpetuated at the school level. By the time they secure appointments as teachers, many male trainees have already become experienced abusers of those towards whom they have a duty of care. The considerable power invested in teachers by the Nigerian education system makes it easy for them to continue to behave in this way towards the children with whom they come into contact in schools. If schools are to be safe and non-violent places for children, the educational system must ensure high levels of accountability and professionalism, and challenge the patriarchal order that breeds sexual violence, through both its formal processes (curriculum, policy, training) and its informal practices. Those in charge of the training and professional development of teachers must play their part.

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REFERENCES Bakari, S., & Leach, F. (2007). Hijacking equal opportunity policies in a Nigerian college of education: The micropolitics of gender. Women’s Studies International Forum, 30(2) 85–96. Beasley, C. (1999). What is feminism? An introduction to feminist theory. London: Sage. Bennett, J. (2002). Exploration of a ‘gap’: Strategising gender equity in African universities. Feminist Africa 1. Retrieved January 9, 2008, from www.feministafrica.org/fa%202/2level.htm Cameron, D. (1998). Feminist linguistic theories. In S. Jackson & J. Jones (Eds.), Contemporary feminist theories. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Clark, K. (1998). The linguistics of blame: Representations of women in the Sun’s reporting of crimes of sexual violence. In D. Cameron (Ed.), The feminist critique of language. London: Routledge. Connell, R. W. (2003, October 21–24). The role of men and boys in achieving gender equality. Paper delivered to a UNDP Expert Group Meeting, Brasilia, Brazil: United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women. Dunne, M., Humphreys, S., & Leach, F. (2006). Gender violence in schools in the developing world. Gender and Education, 18(1), 75–98. Harlow, E. (1996). Gender, violence and social work organisations. In B. Fawcett, J. Featherstone, J. Hearn & C. Toft (Eds.) Violence and gender relations: Theories and interventions. London: Sage. Hearn, J. (1998). The violences of men. London: Sage. Hearn, J. (1996). Men’s violence to known women: Historical, everyday and theoretical constructions by men. In B. Fawcett, B. Featherstone, J. Hearn, & C. Toft (Eds.), Violence and gender relations: Theories and interventions. London: Sage. Kelly, L., & Radford, J. (1996). ‘Nothing really happened’: The invalidation of women’s experiences of sexual violence. In M. Hester, L. Kelly, & J. Radford (Eds.), Women, violence and male power. Buckingham: Open University Press. Leach. F., & Humphreys, S. (2007). Gender violence in schools. Gender and Development, 15(1), 51– 65. Nayak, A., & Kehily, M. J. (2001). Learning to laugh? A study of schoolboy humour in the English secondary school. In W. Martino & B. Meyenn (Eds.), What about the boys? Issues of masculinities in schools. Buckingham: Open University Press. UNDP (2006). Human Development Report. New York: Oxford University Press. UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2006). Global Education Digest 2006, statistical tables [CD ROM]. Paris: UNESCO.

AFFILIATIONS

Salihu Bakari Universal Basic Education Board Adamwa State Nigeria Fiona Leach Centre for International Education University of Sussex Falmer UK

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WHEN SCHOOLS FAIL TO PROTECT GIRLS School-Related Gender-Based Sexual Violence in Sub-Saharan Africa

INTRODUCTION

School-related sexual violence in primary and secondary schools, universities, and higher education institutions is not often listed as a pressing issue in discussions of corruption in education but recently has been included in discussions examining issues affecting female educational access and attainment. Issues of female pregnancy, dropout, or non-enrolment are rarely examined in relation to school related gender-based sexual violence (SRGBSV). The notion of SRGBSV of female1 students runs contrary to the accepted notion of schools as safe places of growth and learning for students. Teachers and administrators have an ethical and professional responsibility to provide a safe environment where students can learn and achieve. Although recent media reports, research studies, and government reports have highlighted the existence of SRGBSV in Europe, North America, Asia, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa, SRGBSV remains an understudied and under-acknowledged phenomenon that adversely affects adolescent females’ school access and learning (UNESCO, 2004; UNICEF, 2006; WHO, 2002). Sub-Saharan Africa has one of the world’s youngest populations and is home to approximately 33 million out-of school primary aged children, of which 54% are girls who will most likely never step foot into a classroom (Dickson-Tetteh, 2001; UNESCO, 2007). For every 10 boys that start primary school only 8 girls will enrol, with 1 in 5 dropping out before they complete (UNESCO, 2007; UNICEF 2006). Unlike other parts of the world where girls normally outperform boys and have lower repetition and dropout rates, girls in SSA have higher repetition and dropout rates than other regions of the world (UNESCO, 2007). An increasing educational gender gap emerges as the analysis expands beyond primary schools to include secondary and tertiary schools, where females are significantly underrepresented within secondary schools and universities in SSA (UNESCO, 2006, 2007). Equal access to schools for girls in sub-Saharan Africa has been identified as a major concern in both the Education for All goals and the Millennium Development Goals. According to the most recent update on how 1

Studies have reported that males also suffer from sexual harassment and violence, however the reported incidence of male sexual harassment and violence is significantly less than female reports. The World Health Organization (2002) identified that about 5-10% of men worldwide have suffered from sexual abuse as children in comparison to 20% of women. For studies that have examined the impact of school-related sexual violence against males see Andersson, et al. (2004), Dahlberg and Krug (2006), Jejeebhoy and Bott (2003), Rahul, Grover and Chaturvedi (2008), and WHO (2002). S.P. Heyneman (ed.), Buying Your Way into Heaven, 23–50. © 2009 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

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countries are achieving EFA goals, only three countries have achieved universal primary (UPE) education and only five other countries in SSA are expected to achieve UPE by the 2015 goal. In regards to educational gender parity, only two countries achieved gender parity in primary schools by the 2005 goal and only an additional two countries are expected to achieve gender parity by 2015 in the SSA region (UNESCO, 2007). The issue of female access and retention in SSA is a major policy concern for both SSA governments and the international community (UNESCO, 2007). Concurrently, approximately two-thirds of the world’s AIDS infected individuals live on the SSA continent, and 76% of all AIDS deaths occurred in SSA accounting for a quarter of all deaths in the region (UNAIDS, 2007). In SSA, the 15 to 19 year old females make up 18% of all pregnant women and females between the age of 15 and 24 are six times more likely to be infected with HIV then their male peers. Teenage pregnancy and high HIV and AIDS rates reflect adolescent girls’ increased risk of gender-based sexual violence which girls often fall victim to in and around schools (UNAIDS, 2007; UNICEF, 2006; UNDP, 2007; WHO, 2002). Although school-related gender-based sexual violence has not been heavily researched, recent research has identified it as a serious issue that affects access and retention of adolescent girls in SSA (UNESCO, 2004; USAID, 2002).2 Schools represent a place of learning and are seen as safe places where children and youth go to gain knowledge and skills to prepare them for a better life. However, because adolescent girls are disproportionately affected by school-related gender-based sexual violence a large number of girls that overcome obstacles to enrol are forced out of school, exacerbating educational gender gaps in SSA (UNESCO, 2004). Schools serve as national institutions to serve and help the youth within a nation. Unfortunately, schools also represent the place where most adolescent girls will face sexual harassment and violence (USAID, 2002; WHO, 2002). For many girls in SSA, enduring sexual harassment and violence from preying men as they travel to and from school is a commonplace event. Once at school, the sexual harassment and violence does not stay off the school grounds. Adolescent girls report gender-based sexual violence inflicted upon them from male students and their male teachers and administrators. Teachers and administrators within these schools hold positions of trust, respect, and authority and are charged with instructing children in safe and secure environments. However, when teachers and administrators break a student’s trust by raping, soliciting sexual favours for grades, or making sexualized comments, they corrupt the educational system and make schools hostile environments. As mentioned, not all school-related genderbased sexual violence is committed by teachers and administrators; male students are reported as being significant perpetrators in many school-related gender-based sexual violent offenses. These actions against female students often go unpunished by school teachers and administrators. Inaction on the part of teachers and administrators or condoning such gendered abuses is also a serious violation of the 2 There are studies of school-related gender-based harassment and violence in other regions of the world, but this chapter will focus on the SSA region. For studies that have examined this issue in other parts of the world, see Jejeebhoy and Bott (2003), Rahul et al. (2008) and USAID (2002).

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trust and responsibility placed on schools and teachers. When teachers and administrators turn a blind eye to harassment and abuse of female students by their male peers, girls receive the message that they are on their own and that genderbased violence is acceptable, or at best must be tolerated (Erulkar, 2004; Human Rights Watch, 2001; Leach, Fiscian, Kadzamira, Lemani, & Machakanja, 2003). DEFINING SCHOOL-RELATED GENDER-BASED SEXUAL VIOLENCE

School-related gender-based sexual violence are explicit actions that range from comments to unwanted touching and rape by peers, teachers, school administrators, and other community members and is any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, or unwanted sexual comments directed at a girl because of her gender (USAID, 2002; WHO, 2002). The forms of violence experienced within and around the schools have been documented and include rape and sexual coercion, sexual harassment, sexual assault, intimidation, sexualized touching and gestures, and physical and verbal abuse (Erulkar, 2004; Human Rights Watch, 2001; Naylor, 2002; USAID, 2002; WHO, 2002). Students experience harassment and sexual solicitation both within the school grounds, classrooms, and also outside the school grounds as they travel to and from school. Teachers, administrators, male peers, and “sugar-daddies3” are most often cited as the perpetrators who solicit sexual favours or sexually harass and coerce female students. Most acts of school-related sexual violence are perpetrated through coercive means forced upon adolescent girls. Sexual coercion has been defined as any act of forcing or attempting to force another individual through violence, threats, verbal insistence, deception, cultural expectations or economic circumstances to engage in a sexual behaviour against an individual’s will (Heise, Moore, & Toubia, 1995; Ajuwon, Olley, Akin-Jimoh, & Akintola, 2001). Acts of sexual coercion are most often not isolated events or offhanded remarks, but most frequently are conscientious acts to subvert the desires and wishes of another to fulfil the sexual desires of a person or a group. Victims are normally known by the perpetrator(s) and are intentionally selected due to a relationship with one of the perpetrators or as punishment (Ajuwon et al., 2001; Varga, 1997). In terms of school related sexual coercion, girls are most often the victims of unwanted verbal advances, touching, and solicitation of sex in exchange for money, gifts, food, grades, and protection (Ajuwon et al., 2001; Jejeebhoy & Bott, 2003; Leach et al., 2003; USAID, 2002). Adolescent females are significantly more susceptible to genderbased sexual violence particularly in the form of coercion as they have limited negotiation skills, are inexperienced and naïve about adult male intentions, have limited bargaining power, and are in a dependent position of economic and academic power (Ajuwon et al., 2001). The lack of power and recourse for acts of gender-based sexual violence, be it at school or in the community makes school-

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Adult men who proposition adolescent girls for sex in exchange for gifts or money to and from school or in the vicinity of the school are referred in this paper as sugar-daddies.

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related gender-based sexual violence a significant issue that thousands of girls must face daily (UNICEF, 2007; WHO, 2002). CULTURAL GENDER NORMS AND TRANSACTIONAL SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS

Cultural gender norms that stress female subordination and male dominance and aggression within society also permeate the school environment (Erulkar, 2004; Okonofua, 2001). In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa boys are socialised to be aggressive, strong and encouraged to be outgoing and explore their community. In contrast, girls are socialised to be meek, submissive, humble, and to remain at home and do household chores (Okonofu, 2001). Traditional gender norms expressed in schools go unquestioned and create an abusive environment where girls have few options or support within the school setting when faced with gender based sexual violence (Human Rights Watch, 2001). Men hold positions of authority and women are seen as docile and subservient. Tasks and assignments are gendered with girls doing more domesticated tasks such as cleaning while boys are assigned to do task requiring manual labour (Erulkar, 2004). The teaching force in SSA is predominately male with few female headmistresses and administrators (UNICEF, 2007). One of the most pertinent cultural gender norms impacting school-related gender-based violence is the practice of transactional sex. Transactional sex is the widespread practice of an exchange relationship, in which men and women exchange material goods and sex. Researchers have documented that most sexual relationships in many regions of sub-Saharan Africa have a transactional element, from short- and long-term relationships, non- and extra-marital partnerships, to marriage (Caldwell et al 1989; Hunter 2002; Swidler & Watkins, 2007).4 Reasons for engaging in transactional relationships range from poor women trying to provide food and basic necessities for their families to highly educated women who desire more luxury goods and items. Unlike prostitution where there is an agreed upon fee for sex between the woman and male client, transactional relationships are based on gifts (Swidler & Watkins, 2007). These gifts are determined by the male and can range from buying a girl bus fare, a soda, or paying entrance to a club, to large and expensive gifts of jewellery, cell phones, or clothing. Gifts are seen as expressions of love by males and represent an expression of value towards a partner or girlfriend. There is no agreed upon price of the gift that is required for sex, and the gifts can precede or be given after the sexual relationship (Swidler & Watkins, 2007). These exchange relationships are based on an economic system that represents male access to financial resources and female’s historic inability to 4 Transactional sex is not a purely African practice and transactional sexual relationships are seen throughout other regions and cultures, including modern western countries. However, in a school setting, particularly with adolescent girls who have not reached an age of consent, any transactional sexual relationship, reflects an unequal power relationship. Adolescent girls are distinctly disadvantaged in regards to financial resources, power and control within the relationship when dealing with older men and school teachers and administrators. It is in this context of unequal power relationships that the concept of transactional sex is examined in this chapter.

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access financial resources except through males. Swidler and Watkins (2007) note that in rural Malawi, similar to other SSA contexts, a man’s financial standing is directly related to his sexual access to women and failure by a man to provide financial support justifies infidelity by his partner. Also, a woman in need of financial support is justified in seeking either a husband or sexual partner to meet her financial needs. This transactional partnership creates a patron-client relationship based on sex in exchange for financial support (Swidler & Watkins, 2007). This patron-client relationship where there is an exchange of sex for money and gifts reflects social and cultural norms of women being dependent on males for financial support, and men needing women to serve as outward displays of power, prestige and social dominance (Swidler & Watkins, 2007). This patron-client relationship reflects unequal power relationships within transactional sexual relationships where women must transfer their power and control over their sexual and reproduction rights to males in order to provide for herself and her family. One example of transactional sex can be seen in the practice of bride-price or bride-wealth found throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The practice of bride-price or bride-wealth is a traditional cultural practice that has been retained through modern day (Gray, 1960; DeRose, Dodoo, & Patil, 2002). The bride-price is a material transaction of money, jewellery, livestock, or other goods paid by the prospective groom to the prospective bride’s family as a symbol of his ability to care for the daughter and repay the family for the cost and effort of raising her. The payment transfers fertility and lineage rights to the husband and his family and sexual access to the wife (Gray, 1960). Researchers have documented that for men who have paid higher bride-prices are often less tolerant of their wives’ preferences about their own fertility or sexual wishes (DeRose, Dodoo, & Patil, 2002; IsiugoAbanihe, 1994; 1995). The transaction between the groom and the bride’s family gives the male access and control over his wife’s sexuality and fertility. The issue of transferring sexual rights away from a woman to a male in exchange for money or gifts directly relates to the practices and behaviours being documented in cases of school-related gender-based violence. Issues of transactional sexual relationships and coercion are two underlying aspects of school-related gender-based violence whether they involve male students, teachers and administrators, or sugar-daddies from the community. Studies in South Africa have reported that many sexual relationships had some form of exchange basis with material gain via gifts and sex as a currency for exchange. These exchange relationships were seen particularly with older men, but also within adolescent sexual relationships, which limit female adolescent’s ability to negotiate for condom use (Jewkes, Vundule, Maforah, & Jordaan, 2001; Kaufman & Stavrou, 2004). Gifts, money, grades, and food purchase are used to purchase sexual access and rights of adolescent girls, reflecting an abuse of power and exploitation by teachers, administrators, older male students, and sugardaddies. Coercion in the form of grades, money, gifts or through force and intimidation put the short-term interest and rights of the male over the long-term interest, rights and educational aspirations of adolescent girls. Issues of

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transactional sex and coercion are two recurrent issues that emerge in this chapter’s analysis of school-related gender-based violence. STUDIES OF SCHOOL-RELATED GENDER-BASED SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Scholars have recognized that school-related gender-based sexual violence is not a recent development, but one that has been generally under-researched.5 Most evidence about school-related gender-based violence comes from research that focused on other issues such as contraception, adolescent sexual health, and studies about STI and HIV and AIDS behaviour conducted in the 1980s and 90s. Out of these studies, findings emerged that pointed to the persistence of school-related gender-based violence. For example, a 1989 study on contraception in Kenya, reported that out of 815 sexually active female students, 9% stated that they did not use contraception because they had been forced into having sex (Kiragu & Zabin, 1993) Also in 1989, a national survey was conducted in the Central African Republic to examine heterosexual HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes, and practices on a sample of 1,307 women aged 15-50. Analysis revealed that 22% of these women’s first sexual experience was a result of rape. Incidence of rape was higher for younger women with 24% of 15 to 19 year olds and 20 to 24 year old women reporting that their first sexual experience was a result of rape (Chapko, Somsé, Kimball, & Massanga, 1999). In 1990 and 1991 another study was conducted on HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour in Malawi that reported 55% of 10 to 18 year old adolescent girls reported being forced to have sex (Helitzer-Allen, 1994). A later survey conducted in Kenya in 1992 by researchers from the African Medical Research Foundation found that out of 9,997 secondary school girls, approximately 40% had been forced or tricked into their first sexual experience (Okumu, Chege, Youri, & Hezron, 1994). The World Health Organization (2002) identifies two additional studies that report sexual coercion and rape of young adolescent females. One conducted in Botswana indicated that 21% of in- and outof school girls between the ages of 13 and 19 had been forced or coerced into having sex, and that 1 out of 5 females in their study reported that it is difficult to refuse sex when money and gifts have been offered or received (Kgosidintsi, 1997 as reported in WHO, 2002). The second study from a hospital setting in Dar-esSalaam, Tanzania, reports that 28% of adolescent women between the age of 14 and 19 suffering post-abortion complications were impregnated by men who were about 25 years older than them. Respondents reported that they were forced or coerced to have sex. The perpetrators were often authority figures, “sugar daddies,” older male teachers, policemen, priests, and relatives (Mpangile et al., 1992, 1999; as reported in WHO, 2002). 5 The issue of school-related gender-based violence had not been readily acknowledged or studied prior to the 1990s. For an overview of the studies that highlighted this issue and the need for additional research, see Leach et al. (2003), USAID (2002), and Jejeebhoy and Bott (2003).

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A 1995 study in South Africa examining teenage pregnancies found that pregnancy among adolescent girls most commonly occurred among girls who were in school with 35% of girls under 20 having ever been pregnant or had a baby. The study conducted in Cape Town reported that 32% of pregnant teenagers reported that their first sexual experience had resulted from rape or force, whereas 18% of never-pregnant teenagers reported that their first sexual experience was from rape or force (Jewkes et al., 2001). The study did not examine who the perpetrators of the rape were, however, the respondents distinguished between rape as physical coercion by strangers or relative while forced sex referred to physical coercion by a boyfriend. A 1997 study in Ghana of 704 unmarried 12-24 year old youth found that sexual coercion was an important factor in sexual initiation and sexual intercourse. The results of the study identified that 25% of females between the ages of 12 and 24 reported that their first sexual experience had been forced and another 9% stated that they had been deceived or enticed into their first sexual experience. In the study, one in five males who had had sex admitted to having used some sort of coercion or bribery to get sex, either through money, gifts, or force (Glover et al., 2003). In response to the alarming findings of these early studies, researchers have recently started to examine the effect of school related sexual harassment and violence against adolescent girls and children. SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND VIOLENCE TO AND FROM SCHOOL

Access to schools, particularly secondary schools, in sub-Saharan Africa continues to be an issue for many children. Schools are located long distances from children’s homes, with no transportation provided. Students are required to walk long distances as the cost of daily bus or taxi fares is more than most students or their families can afford (Burton, 2005; Human Rights Watch, 2001; Leach et al., 2003). A 2005 study in Malawi indicated that over 50% of students travel to and from school in groups with 24% of all students reporting being scared to walk to and from school. Of those students that were afraid to walk to and from school 71% report being afraid of being attacked en route as their greatest fear. A 2001 study conducted in Malawi indicated that girls were more likely to be accosted by adult males outside of the school as they travel to and from school. Adolescent girls in this study reported being intercepted to and from school by boys and men who are under the influence of alcohol or marijuana who attempt to fondle, touch, sexually assault and shout threats of violence when solicitations are rejected. Encounters with adult males who solicited sex while travelling to and from school were reported by 60% of peri-urban adolescent girls, 46% of urban adolescent girls, and 28% of rural adolescent females (Leach et al., 2003). Adolescent girls in South Africa also reported fear of being jack rolled or gang raped en route to school. The issue of forced rape or jack rolled is given here. One afternoon when I was in Primary School, my sister came to fetch me to where my mother worked. My sister had been wearing her short jean shorts 29

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and a top. She had been carrying my bag. We walked talking and laughing together. We walked until we met 2 guys in the middle of the way. They asked us the way to the Primary School. I replied to them, saying, “just walk all the [way] through this bush and then turn to your right twice. They said Thank you. One of them said to my sister that she looked beautiful. She said Thanks. One guy grabbed her and said I like you. They both grabbed her pushed her on the floor. I escaped/runned away from them. My sister told me to run away, instead I hid in the bushes crying quietly, my heart was beating hard. I saw those bastards rape my sister, they tore her clothes. I got so angry that I ran as fast as I could towards my mother’s place of work. My school uniform was wet with tears. I was angry and disappointed of myself because I was powerless I couldn’t do anything. After a few months my sister was carrying a child she didn’t know who the father was. She was terrified. But luckily she got through it. (Female Primary Student from South Africa as cited in Human Rights Watch, 2001) Lack of reliable and affordable transportation forces many adolescent girls to walk long distances to and from schools. These long stretches expose them to sexual advances, exploitation, and attacks by minibus and taxi drivers, or other men who they pass in their path (Human Rights Watch, 2001; Leach et al., 2003). A study conducted of pregnant adolescent women in an antenatal clinic in Nigeria reported that of the 136 pregnant adolescent girls, 98% reported exchanging sex for money to pay school fees or in exchange for clothing, snacks, and bus fares to get to and from school (Ilika & Anthony, 2004). Taxi drivers and minibus drivers are often cited as soliciting sexual intercourse for rides to and from school for girls Sugardaddies are reported as using promises of marriage, gifts, and money to coerce adolescent girls into sexual relationships (Human Rights Watch, 2001). The 2001 study in Malawi also reported that teachers indicated that many girls were dropped off and picked up at the school by mini-bus drivers, who gave the adolescent girls free rides in exchange for sex (Leach et al., 2003). A study conducted in Zimbabwe indicated that adolescent girls were perceived to enter sexual relationships for money and gifts and to prevent male violence directed towards them (Leach, Machakanja, & Mandoga, 2000). A 2001 study in Ghana indicated that 27% of respondents knew of a girl in their class with a sugar-daddy or older boy as a boyfriend and 38% of students reported that they knew of a girl who got pregnant from a boy or man from outside of the school (Leach et al., 2003). Researchers have reported that in an effort to avoid sexual violence by walking long distances to and from school, several girls in Zambia board around the school, however their dwellings are simple and these girls remain vulnerable to men and male students who break into their dwellings and rape them (Human Rights Watch, 2002). A 1995 study in South Africa examining teenage pregnancies found that pregnancy among adolescent girls most commonly occurred among girls who were in school with 35% of girls under 20 having ever been pregnant or had a baby with the father being out of school and significantly older than the girl. The Cape Town study reported that 32% of pregnant teenagers reported that their first sexual experience 30

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had resulted from rape or force, whereas 18% of never-pregnant teenagers reported that their first sexual experience was from rape or force (Jewkes et al., 2001). For those girls that can travel to and from school safely, there are other costs of schooling that push many adolescent girls into transactional sexual relationships. In a review of transactional sexual relationships of adolescent girls in sub-Saharan Africa, Luke and Kurz (2002), report that most sugar-daddies are between six and ten years older than their adolescent sexual partners, but studies have reported age gaps of up to 24 years. These older men often are married with families and financial resources. These relationships often include a transactional element. Even in places where school fees have been abolished, students still are required to purchase uniforms, books, school supplies, and informal fees in addition to find or pay for transportation to and from school (Leach, Machakanja, & Mandoga,2001; Luke, 2008). Schooling increases the need for money by adolescent girls and makes them more susceptible to sexual demands that accompany “gifts” by older males. Luke and Kurz (2002) report that 5% of adolescent girls in Cameroon had ever engaged in sexual relations in exchange for money or gifts in contrast to approximately 66% of adolescent girls in Malawi and 80% of adolescent girls in Tanzania. A study conducted in 2001 in Dodowa, Ghana examining adolescent sexual and reproductive behaviour reported that 47% of female junior secondary students had engaged in casual sex in exchange for financial or material compensation. This same study reports that 63% of female junior secondary students have experienced forced sex and an inability to negotiate condom usage during sexual intercourse. You see, this girl was constantly sacked from school because she could not pay the fees. Then the mother advised her to go for a boyfriend who will help her complete her education. My friend, the girl disagreed and came over to discuss it with me. I went to my mother with her and my mother told her never to do what her mother said because she was going to pay her fees, which she did. (Adolescent Female in Ghana as cited in Tweedie, Glover, Bannerman, Nerquaye-Tetteh, & Arkhurst, 1997) The need for adolescent girls to have access to money increases as they progress through school (Luke & Kurz, 2002). A study conducted in Ghana study identified that out of 195 sexually active girls, 33% had engaged in sexual relationships for money or gifts and that these relationships with sugar daddies were a result of poverty and exploitation, with 68% of sexually active Junior Secondary School girls identifying that they have engaged in transactional sex for money or gifts (Afenyadu & Goparaju, 2003). “Parents do not provide; if a man provides and proposes, I will give sex to him and get what I want” (Senior Secondary Adolescent Ghanaian female as cited in Afenyadu & Goparaju, 2003). The concept of money and violence become central points around sexual relationships with sugar-daddies. Sugar-daddies exploit the fact that most girls have limited opportunity to earn money. As a result gifts, money, and snacks from teachers, older male students, and sugar-daddies become difficult to resist. In many instances, older boys and sugar-daddies will begin a relationship with girls by 31

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giving them items with no demands for sexual compensation, however gradually girls are often unwittingly coerced by obligation into a sexual relationship (Leach, Machakanja, & Mandoga, 2000; Tweedie et al., 1997). A sense of sexual entitlement is even stronger in relationships in which gifts and money are involved, Researchers have identified that sexual violence is a relatively frequent response to young females who overstep the bounds of their bargaining power and in some settings, rape is considered a justifiable outcome if an adolescent girl accepts gifts and then refuses to engage in sex (Afenyadu & Goparaju, 2003; Luke & Kurz, 2002). Poverty is seen as the most significant factor in forcing adolescent girls to trade sex for money to pay school fees or other gifts such as food, clothing, and other school supplies (Panos 2003; USAID, 2002). Poverty and economic dependence by adolescent girls on sugar-daddies decreases a girl’s ability to negotiate sexual matters within the relationship particularly around the use of condoms as gifts and money increase within a relationship. My sister, a friend of mine and I were coming home from school when we saw a man hitting a teenage girl. Everyone walked past them and didn’t try to stop. We certainly couldn’t. He was dragging her, banging her head against the wall and pulling her hair. She was crying and I don’t blame her for doing so. We quickly walked past them, we walked far enough to still see them. We stopped again and watched, I don’t know why I did. After a while we carried on walking back home. I just couldn’t sleep well that night. (11 year old South African girl as cited in Human Rights Watch, 2001, p. 131) When gifts and money are exchanged, adolescent girls become increasingly powerless to deny sex to the male with studies in SSA repeatedly indicating that once gifts are accepted girls lose any ability to negotiate for condoms or to refuse sex, and rape and violence are justified if a girl denies sex after accepting gifts (Afenyadu & Goparaju, 2003; Human Rights Watch, 2001; Leach et al., 2003; Luke 2002; Luke & Kurz, 2002; USAID, 2002). Although many of these solicitation and sexual relationships occur off of the school grounds, they are directly related to the schooling experience of many adolescent girls in SSA. In an effort to gain access to school, girls are forced to endure sexual violence to and from school and many girls are forced into transactional sexual relationships to pay for the costs of a “free education”. GENDER-BASED SEXUAL VIOLENCE FROM MALE STUDENTS

Once girls get to school, gender-based sexual violence does not stay on the school’s doorstep. Cultural gender norms are strictly observed within adolescent peer groups within schools and these norms encourage male and female students to conform to certain stereotypical behaviours which make girls particularly vulnerable to school-related gender-based sexual violence by their male peers (Dunne, Humphreys, and Leach, 2006; Erulkar, 2005; Jejeebhoy & Bott, 2003; Leach, Machakanja, & Mandoga, 2000). Girls report that sexual assault and rape occur in schools on a daily basis. Unwanted touching, kissing, fondling of breasts, 32

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pinching of buttocks, groping, lifting skirts, and suggestive comments are directed at girls in the classroom, in the halls, and around the school grounds (Burton, 2005; Erulkar, 2004; Human Rights Watch, 2001; Mensch & Lloyd, 1998). Reasons for gender-based sexual violence against girls in schools by their male peers have been identified as a result or male dominance and female subordination, male’s inability to control their sexual urges, and punishment of female students (Human Rights Watch, 2001; Jejeebhoy & Bott, 2003; USAID, 2002). [O]ne night this month [July 14,1991 at the St. Kizito's co-ed boarding school in central Kenya] 71 teen-age schoolgirls were raped by male students and 19 others died in a night of dormitory violence that reportedly began with a protest over fees and then ran on unchecked by the local police or teachers. (Perlez, 1991) The female students at the school did not join their male peers in a strike over the school’s unwillingness to pay a fee for the boys to compete in an athletic competition. As a result the boys sought to punish the girls by raping them for not supporting their strike. School administrators acknowledge that rape of female students by their male peers is not an uncommon occurrence and the principal stated that: In the past, the boys would scare the girls out of their dormitories and in the process they would get hold of them and drag them to the bush where they would 'do their thing' and the matter would end there, with the students going back to their respective dormitories. (Perlez, 1991) The deputy principal, Joyce Kithira, also justified the male students’ behaviour by stating, “The boys never meant any harm against the girls. They just wanted to rape” (Perlez, 1991). The fact that the boys got worked up and needed to release sexual frustration was seen as a reason and justification for the male students’ actions. Officials within Kenya note that the incident of rape of female students by their male peers is common in many schools across Kenya, however these incidents go unreported and acknowledge that if girls had not died in this incident it too would have gone unreported (Perlez, 1991). School-related gender-based sexual violence by male students is seen as a continuum ranging from requesting and soliciting to physical force and rape (Dunne, Humphreys, & Leach, 2006; Erulkar, 2005; Jejeebhoy & Bott, 2003; Leach, Machakanja, & Mandoga, 2000). The actual prevalence of school-related gender-based sexual violence is unknown as most cases go unreported (Burton, 2005). A study conducted in Botswana among 422 girls between the ages of 13 and 16 found that 38% reported unwanted touching in a sexual manner from their classmates and 17% reported having had sex, of these half stated that they were forced to have sex (Botswana Gazzette, 2000). A similar study conducted in Cameroon identified that 15% of unwanted touching, caressing, and rape occurred in schools and 30% of the perpetrators were fellow students (Mbassa Menick, 2001). A study of 112 girls in junior secondary schools in Zimbabwe, found that 47% of girls reported school-related sexual violence in the form of hair pulling, 33

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physical violence, name calling, threats, intimidation, unwanted touching, and sexual solicitation by male students (Leach, Machakanja, & Mandoga, 2000). The study found that older boys would prey on the younger girls and force girls to read love letters, touching them in sexual ways, enter their classrooms uninvited during break times, proposition them in the school grounds and physically beat them if they refused. Male students have identified that they employ deception and trickery by exposing girls to pornographic films, slipping a girl drugs or alcohol without their knowledge, or manipulating the situation to where the girl will not have an option to leave or refuse sexual advances (Ajuwon et al., 2001; Jejeebhoy & Bott, 2003). Research has identified that adolescent youth in SSA have developed concepts of different “types” of rape (Andersson et al., 2004; Balmer et al., 1997; Jewkes et al., 2001, 2002; Wood & Jewkes 2001; Wood, Maforah, & Jewkes, 1996, 1998). Both male and female students distinguish between rape by their boyfriend, peers or friends, and a stranger, identifying rape by boyfriend as rough sex, by a peer or friend as friendly rape, in contrast to that of rape from a stranger (Balmer et al., 1997; Jewkes et al. 2002; Wood & Jewkes 2001; Wood, Maforah, & Jewkes 1996, 1998). In addition, Kenyan and South African adolescent males and females distinguish between justifiable and unjustifiable rape (Balmer et al., 1997; Human Rights Watch, 2001). Justifiable rape is when a girl has insulted a male’s masculinity, flaunted her sexuality, or refused a male’s sexual advances (Ajuwon et al., 2001; Human Rights Watch, 2001; USAID, 200). Boys have reported using rape as a means of keeping girls in their place and teaching them a lesson (Afenyadu & Goparaju, 2003; Human Rights Watch, 2001; Leach, Machakanja, & Mandoga, 2000). Both males and females have distinguished between different types of rape. Young girls have recognized that if they have rejected the advances of boys, or if the boys think that the girl is too full of herself and in need of a lesson, or was disrespectful to the boy, then that lesson will involve either public humiliation, physical violence, or rape (Balmer et al., 1997; Erulkar, 2004; Human Rights Watch, 2001). Studies have reported that rape has been used by male students to undermine female student leaders’ authority within the school system and to emphasize male dominance (Erulkar, 2004; Human Rights Watch, 2001). A study of sexual relationships between males and teenage girls in South Africa identified sex as the way of establishing a man’s power within a relationship and that having sex and multiple sex partners was a measure of a man’s masculinity, intelligence and success (Varga, 1997). Rape and sexual harassment aren’t the only forms of school-related genderbased violence that girls experience in the classroom and while at school. Male classmates and older boys often jeer or ridicule girls in an effort to silence girls when they comment or attempt to answer questions in class (Erulkar, 2004). Male students have been documented as making highly sexualized comments in the class about female students, or touching and groping female students while in the classroom and in the presence of teachers. Most often the boys’ actions are not recognized or acknowledged by the teacher, leaving the female student to fend for herself (Burton, 2005; Mensch & Lloyd, 1998). Teachers have responded that they 34

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fear for their own safety and as a result do not interfere in the personal relationships between their students or that boys are just being boys and don’t mean any harm (Human Rights Watch, 2001). Coercion is also used to initiate sexual relationships among adolescents. Research on school violence in Zimbabwe found that boys would often give girls gifts to indicate that they are ready to engage in a sexual relationship (Leach, Machakanja, & Mandoga, 2000). Kaufman and Stavrou (2002) report that adolescent boys in South Africa report that gifts are given with the express purpose of leveraging sexual favours from girls and girls report that once gifts have been accepted, it is difficult to avoid a sexual relationship. A study conducted in Tanzania identified that most sexual relationships between students involve the exchange of money and gifts. The advantage that boys have access to earning money that females do not increases the boys leverage and ability to use money and gifts to coerce sex from the girl. The importance of the money or gift was made evident as both male and female students responded that if boys ran out of money or were no longer able to provide gifts, the girl would avoid him and no longer have sex with him (Nnko & Pool, 1997). Many female adolescents fault themselves for rape or sexual harassment, removing blame from the male perpetrator (Andersson et al., 2004; Burton, 2005). Internalization of blame by adolescent girls can be partly attributed to cultural gender norms that promote a concept of males as highly sexualized who can not be denied their sexual appetites, while women must satisfy male sexual desires. A study conducted in Malawi reinforces the view of acceptance of male sexual violence as between 30% and 40% of girls who were raped or forced to have sex did not report the incident. Of these girls that did not report the rape 28% of girls 14 and older and 26% of girls under the age of 13 reported that there was no need to report the incident as rape is not a serious enough issue. Of those that did report the incident of rape, in over 75% of the cases the perpetrator was given only a warning (Burton, 2005). The reality that most cases go unpunished and that many girls have embraced a mentality that rape is not a serious issue provides few options for adolescent girls to successfully control their sexuality and fertility as they have limited power to negotiate safer sex or refuse sex entirely from their male peers (Ajuwon et al., 2001; Balmer et al., 1997; Jejeebhoy & Bott, 2003; Varga, 1997; Wood & Jewkes 1997). Studies in Kenya and Nigeria have revealed that adolescent girls who experience sexual harassment or rape are afraid to draw attention to themselves for fear of being blamed by their family, school administrators, peers, friends, and society for the incident (Ajuwon et al., 2001; Balmer et al., 1997; Human Rights Watch, 2001; IRIN, 2008). Fear of being blamed or ostracized are real fears. “Victim-blaming” occurs frequently when girls report issues of abuse. Girls are questioned about their actions, what they were wearing, how they were carrying themselves, to find any thing that they might have done to provoke the assault (Muthien & Combrink, 2003). When sexual assault occurs on campus and girls and their families bring it to the attention of the school administration, families are pressured to not go to the police and allow the school to take care of the issue. 35

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However male perpetrators are not expelled, suspended, or even disciplined for their actions (Human Rights Watch, 2001). Research has indicated that most schools lack reporting structures for sexual assault and school administrations will often try to intervene to prevent embarrassment to the school rather than protect or support the victim (Human Rights Watch, 2001, 2002; USAID, 2002). In reality, reporting sexual violence often does not result in punishment of the perpetrator but more often increases the risk of harassment towards the victim. As a result, rape victims are forced to share the same classroom and halls with their attackers with no counselling or support. But reporting the incident opens the student to ridicule and increased harassment and violence by the perpetrator, other students, and family (Balmer et al., 1997; Human Rights Watch, 2001; Jejeebhoy & Bott, 2003; USAID, 2002; Varga, 1997; Wood & Jewkes 1997). Girls that did report cases of rape or other forms of sexual assault have reported no action taken by school administrators, which turns the school into an even more hostile environment with no source of support (Human Rights Watch, 2001). If action is taken, often school administrators respond to rape charges that occur on campus by recommending the use of a “seduction damages” payment to compensate the girl and family for the rape (Human Rights Watch, 2001). The very term changes the incident from a rape to an issue where the girl was seduced and then can be identified as a willing participant who needs material compensation for the sexual affair. When issues of violence are reported, school administrators often discount the incident or only administer minimal reprimands to perpetrators. One junior secondary student in South Africa reported that after a male classmate physically assaulted her in class for talking back to him, the principle responded by calling the boy into his office and in front of the girl stating, “stop – if you’re beating girls already you’ll grow up to beat your wife” (Human Rights Watch, 2001, p. 75). There are often no punishments as schools see issues of sexual abuse as a matter for the police department. Therefore, schools neither suspend nor punish male perpetrators, nor do they cooperate with authorities or provide information (Human Rights Watch, 2001). Girls also report that when they have reported the incident, school administrators have blamed girls for the sexual assault or harassment, justifying that the girl must have invited the assault or lead the male student on (Erulkar, 2004; Balmer et al., 1997; Human Rights Watch, 2001; Jejeebhoy & Bott, 2003; Varga, 1997). Although studies have shown that even when adolescent girls attempt to negotiate or attempt to prevent a forced sexual encounter, 71% of those who reported having attempted to negotiate or refuse were unsuccessful (Varga, 1997). These findings highlight the power differentials that exist between male and female adolescent relationships. In studies in both Kenya and South Africa, male adolescents have identified their inability to communicate with girls and not being able to separate sex from a relationship with a girl as reasons for committing rape or gang rape, and not the actions of a girl as the instigator (Balmer et al., 1997; Molestane, Stuart, Walsh, & Taylor, 2008). The implicit attitude by teachers and administrators of condoning or excusing sexually exploitative behaviour sends a strong message to female students. A 36

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culture of tolerance towards school-related gender-based sexual violence has not only allowed girls to be sexually harassed and abused by fellow male students but also by their teachers and administrators (Abrahams, 2008; Bailey, 2008; Erulkar, 2004; Human Rights Watch, 2001; Jejeebhoy & Bott, 2003; Leach, 2008). SEXUAL VIOLENCE FROM TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS

Teachers and administrators participate in implicit sexual violence towards female students when teachers and administrators ridicule, downplay, ignore, or legitimize sexual harassment and violence experienced by students (Burton, 2005; Human Rights Watch, 2001, 2002; Leach, Machakanja, & Mandoga, 2000; Leach et al., 2003; Leach & Mitchell, 2006). In addition to implicit sexual violence by teachers and administrators created from lack of action, researchers have also documented explicit sexual violence by teachers and administrators (for example see Burton, 2005; Dunne, Humphreys, & Leach, 2006; Human Rights Watch, 2001, 2002; Jejeebhoy & Bott, 2003; Leach et al., 2003; Leach & Mitchell, 2006; USAID, 2002). The practice of school-related gender-based sexual violence by teachers and administrators is not a new issue and girls have been victims of both explicit and implicit sexual violence at the hands of teachers and administrators for years (Dunne, Humphreys, & Leach, 2006). It started when I asked for some past [examination] papers from my teacher. When I asked him [about the papers], he asked me to go and collect them from [his] home. That is when everything happened. What happened was wrong; it shouldn’t happen, it shouldn’t be accepted. The school should be a safe place for all the pupils; such things shouldn’t be happening at school … I think the school is not a safe place for pupils anymore. But I think if measures are taken, schools can be safe places. But it’s, like, they [the authorities] haven’t started taking such measures to make a school a safe place. (13 year old Zambian school girl raped by her teacher; IRIN, 2008) School-related gender-based sexual violence is often a result of coercion by teachers and administrators. Several reports indicate that male teachers and administrators use coercion, deceit, and force to isolate victims in order for them to rape or sexually assault students (Abrahams, 2008; Bailey, 2008; Burton, 2005; Dunne, Humphreys, & Leach, 2006; Human Rights Watch, 2001; Jejeebhoy & Bott, 2003; Leach, 2008; Leach et al., 2003; Leach & Mitchell, 2006; USAID, 2002). Teachers have been reported as asking a girl to stay behind after class, to come to his office or to carry his books, all requests that girls can not decline, putting them in vulnerable positions that some teachers take advantage of (Leach, Machakanja, & Mandoga, 2000). Recent research discussed in this section repeatedly identifies a segment of male teachers as perpetrators of sexual harassment and violence towards adolescent girls. However the implicit culture of the schools has often left these teachers unchecked and free to prey on additional victims (Abrahams, 2008; Bailey, 2008; Burton, 2005; Dunne, Humphreys, & Leach, 2006; Human Rights Watch, 2001; 37

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Jejeebhoy & Bott, 2003; Leach, 2008; Leach et al., 2003; Leach & Mitchell, 2006; USAID, 2002). Similar to school-related gender-based violence committed by male students, sexual violence committed by teachers and administrators falls within a continuum ranging from implicit behaviour of inaction when informed of sexual violence perpetrated to explicit behaviour such as touching, sexualized language, comments, and gestures to transactional sexual relationships to rape (Burton, 2005; Human Rights Watch, 2001; USAID, 2002). There are numerous implicit cultural norms within schools that go unquestioned. Schools as institutions are found within local cultures and staffed with teachers and administrators who reflect many normative cultural practices and beliefs of a society. These include notions of gender and appropriate behaviour for the sexes. This implicit culture often goes unquestioned and reinforces certain cultural practices. Cultural norms relating to gender have been identified as reinforcing notions of masculinity and femininity where males are to be more dominating, forceful and sexual, while females are to be more subordinate, respectful, and dutiful (Burton, 2005; Erulkar, 2004; Human Rights Watch, 2001, 2002; Leach et al., 2003; Leach & Mitchell, 2006). When schools excuse behaviour based on cultural norms or expectations of “normal childhood development” they ignore the implications of such violence and harassment on female victims. Although it is often easier to identify overt school related sexual harassment and violence by teachers and administrators which will constitute the bulk of this sections discussion, it is important to acknowledge that both implicit and explicit behaviours and norms within schools impact the educational experience of every child and determines the quality of education that students receive. Exact statistics on explicit sexual harassment and violence perpetrated by teachers and administrators is not readily available. Most occurrences go unreported or remain at the school level (Dunne, Humphreys, & Leach, 2006; Human Rights Watch, 2001, 2002; USIAD, 2002). Although actual figures are limited, recent research has started to report on the prevalence of teacher and school administrator sexual harassment and violence towards girls. Interviews with teachers and students have indicated that sexual relationships between students and teachers fall into two categories: 1) sexual exchange for grades, school fees, and test questions; and 2) forced sex by the instructor (Afenyado & Goparaju, 2003; Burton, 2005; Human Rights Watch, 2002; Leach et al., 2003). Students reply that almost half of sexual relationships that they perceive are where the student is coerced into exchanging sex for grades, tuition fees, and leaking of test questions before exams (Afenyado & Goparaju, 2003). In terms of forced or coerced sex by teachers, a 1998 Medical Research Council Survey conducted in South Africa found that among those rape victims who specified their relationship to the perpetrator, approximately 38% said their schoolteacher or principal had raped them (Human Rights Watch, 2001). Using the South African Demographic and Health Survey, Rachael Jewkes and colleagues (2002) found that among girls who reported being raped at age 15 or younger, 33% of rape perpetrators were school teachers. In a study conducted in Botswana, 67% of girls reported sexual harassment by their teachers and that teacher related sexual 38

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harassment and violence occurred at the primary and secondary levels. Even though Botswana provides 10 years of free education, 11% of the girls in the study were considering dropping out as a result of sexual harassment by their teachers (Rossetti 2001). This same study found that 20% of the girls had been solicited for sexual relationships by their teachers and half of these stated that they had conceded out of fear of reprisal in the form of failing grades, public humiliation, violence, or negative academic performance (Rosetti, 2001 as cited by Davies, ND). Following up on a 1997 study that found that 14% of reported sexual harassment and abuse cases were perpetrated by teachers and administrators, Daniel Mbassa Menick (2001) conducted a study in public and private schools in Yaoundé Cameroon during 1998-1999 to study the prevalence of sexual abuse in Cameroon primary and lower secondary school settings. Results indicated that out of 1,688 students between the ages of 4 and 15, 16% reported an incident of sexual abuse or harassment. Of the 916 girls in the sample, 21% reported a case of sexual harassment or rape in comparison to 10% of the 772 boys in the study. In terms of sexual harassment, 39% reported being raped and 55% reported unwanted sexual touching, of which 15% of all perpetrators were teachers. Of these, 42% never revealed the incident, and of those that did reveal the incident to parents, friends, or teachers, 90% did not result in a criminal complaint or charge against the teacher or perpetrator. Almon Shumba (2001) reported that there were 212 officially reported cases of sexual abuse by teachers between 1990 and 1997 in six urban and rural districts in Zimbabwe. Of these cases, 66% involved sexual intercourse with a student, 2% involved rape or attempted rape, 11% involved fondling, kissing, or some other type of sexual unwanted touching, and 26% were reports of teachers writing love letters to students. One caveat that needs to be considered in examining these results is that other studies have reported that most students never report sexual abuse by teachers and that official numbers almost inherently always under-report that actual occurrence of sexual abuse. To try and understand actual occurrences of abuse, studies have surveyed students and teachers to estimate actual levels of abuse. In 1994 after several media stories reported about teachers demanding sexual favours in exchange for grades, Fred Zindi administered 2756 questionnaires to female university students in Zimbabwe. The self-reported data indicated that 64% had been sexually harassed by lecturers, with 18% being explicitly solicited for sexual favours. The respondents identified implicit activities of lecturers exploiting students and making sexualized comments and jokes in the classroom. Of these students 93% stated that they would not report sexual harassment to officials or administrators (Zindi, 1994). In an effort to better understand the issue of school-related gender based violence, research was conducted in Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Ghana. In Zimbabwe, out of 122 adolescent girls, 11% reported being sexually solicited by teachers with 40% reporting they knew someone else who had been sexually solicited by a teacher (Leach, Machakanja, & Mandoga 2000). Issues of teachers engaging in sexual relationships with students were also found in the Ghana and Malawi studies. In the Ghana study, 25% of girls reported knowing of sexual relationships 39

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between students and teachers in their school. However, 62% of girls in Ghana and 34% of girls in Malawi reported that they personally knew of a girl in the school who had been impregnated by a teacher (Leach et al., 2003). In Malawi, of the girls that were impregnated by a teacher, all but 1 had dropped out or been expelled while the teacher remained teaching at the school (Leach et al., 2003). A second study conducted in Malawi focusing on gender-based violence in schools found that out of 4,412 adolescents, 33% between the age of 14 and 20 and 23% between the ages of 9 and 13 reported that teachers in their schools sleep with students in exchange for grades with 84% of younger students and 34% of older students personally knowing a person who has been sexually victimized by a teacher in exchange for grades (Burton, 2005). Most research has focused on estimating the experience of students with sexual violence and has not surveyed schools and teachers directly. However, in a 2005 study conducted in Ghana with 522 teachers, researchers found that male teachers were more likely than female teachers to believe that it was ok to walk a student home, buy a student lunch, or to be frequently alone with a student to help them with their work, or talk with them in dark corner, and have sexual relationships with fellow teachers (Adamchak, 2005). There was general agreement by all teachers that it was inappropriate for a teacher to touch a student in a sexual manner or to engage in a sexual relationship with a student, whether instigated by the student or teacher. However, when asked how common they thought it was for a teacher, headmaster or headmistress to engage in sexual activity with students, 56% thought that it sometimes or often occurred and 53% reported personally knowing a teacher, headmaster, or headmistress who had engaged in sexual activity with a student since they have been a teacher. Of the teachers interviewed, only 10% of male teachers and 2% of female teachers reported having engaged in a sexual relationship with a student (Adamchak, 2005). In 2005 results of a survey administered to teachers in Malawi showed that 20% of teachers were aware of teachers who engage in sexual relationships with students (Burton, 2005). Of teachers that reported knowing of sexual relationships between teachers and students at their school, only 37% reported that any action had been taken against the teacher. Although studies have not examined how many teachers believe that sex with students is a right of teachers, the right or privilege to have sexual relationships with students has been identified by some teachers (Burton, 2005; Human Rights Watch, 2001). Teachers have reported that sexual relationships with their students are a fringe benefit to compensate for low salaries and poor working conditions. Many teachers are forced to relocate for a period away from their families, spouses, and significant others whether through government service or before they gain enough seniority to get a post in the urban centres (Human Rights Watch, 2001). I was saying that this [a teacher taking a standard six female student for himself] was so wrong. That teachers should not be behaving like this. One of the teachers there said to me, “No. The department is not paying us enough money. So this is a fringe benefit. But Standard six is too young. Standard 40

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nine and ten is where we play.” (Youth Development Trainer, South Africa as cited in Human Rights Watch, 2001) Even though studies report that teachers, administrators, parents, and communities believe that sexual relationships between students and teachers are inappropriate, the acceptance of teacher-student sexual relationships as normal and acceptable is reflected by how reported incidents are handled by schools. Similarly to the implicit culture in schools that tolerates male students aggression and sexual violence against female students, when teachers and administrators are made aware of sexual violence by teachers, they often do not result in criminal charges or the firing of teachers (Burton, 2005; Dunne, Humphreys, & Leach, 2006; Human Rights Watch, 2001, 2002; Leach, Machakanja, & Mandoga, 2000; Leach et al., 2003; USAID, 2002). Most schools pressure parents to settle the issue by having the teacher pay damages to the family or marry the girl. Often the worst that will happen to many teachers is that they will be transferred to a new school with no mention of the incident to the new school, however the most likely result is the teaching being told to stop (Burton, 2005; Dunne, Humphreys, & Leach, 2006; Human Rights Watch, 2001, 2002; Leach et al., 2003; USAID, 2002). If there are consequences to the teacher it normally comes in the form of minimal financial compensation to the student or family (Human Rights Watch, 2001). The teacher maintains his job, the school avoids public embarrassment, and the girl must continue to attend school with her attacker. I have a case of a twelve-year-old girl who was having sex with her teacher in exchange for money. He raped her in an empty classroom during school. She’d left her class to go to the toilets. He gave her money for her silence. And after that she would meet him and he’d pay her. There was medical evidence of penetration. The teacher was suspended but later allowed to come back to school. He paid the girl one rand [about $0.20 US] when he raped her. Another girl has said he did the same thing to her. (Dumi Nala, Childline in SA, as cited in Human Rights Watch, 2001, p. 44) Teacher’s use of the practice of transactional sex via grades and money to justify or legitimize acts of rape and abuse of students has been documented throughout the studies reported here. Reports of teachers requiring sexual favours for grades or to pass a class have been identified by both students and researchers. Others report that teachers will pay school fees, provide extra tutoring, give food, clothing, or help buy other items that the student may not be able to afford (Burton, 2005; Dunne, Humphreys, & Leach, 2006; Human Rights Watch, 2001; 2002; Leach, Machakanja, & Mandoga, 2000; Leach et al., 2003; USAID, 2002). School-related sexual violence by teachers in the form of rape has been excused by parents and administrators when there is a transactional component to the relationship. As long as the teacher is providing financial resources, paying school fees, providing grades, or providing other gifts to the female student, then the relationship is seen as mutually beneficial (Human Rights Watch, 2001; Jejeebhoy & Bott, 2003; Swidler & Watkins, 2007; USAID, 2002). Parents will often turn a blind eye or 41

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encourage their daughters to engage in sexual relationships with teachers, as they have good jobs and can provide economic security for the girl (Human Rights Watch, 2001; Leach et al., 2003). In addition the relationship eases the financial burden of the family and provides hope that the teacher may some day marry the girl. In the cases where abuse was reported to school officials, girls reported that school administrators would not believe them and they would be teased and ridiculed by their peers (Burton, 2005; Dunne, Humphreys, & Leach, 2006; Human Rights Watch, 2001; 2002; Leach, Machakanja, & Mandoga, 2000). Others report that after reporting the sexual abuse, the perpetrating teacher has threatened to beat the adolescent girl, fail her, and publicly ridicule her in front of her classmates. Teachers remain in the classrooms as a constant threat to the victim, by reporting the incident, the student potentially exposes herself to increased abuse (Human Rights Watch, 2001; Jejeebhoy & Bott, 2003; Leach, Machakanja, & Mandoga, 2000; Leach et al., 2003; USAID, 2002). EFFECTS OF SCHOOL RELATED SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND VIOLENCE

Unfortunately for most adolescent girls, the most common place where genderbased sexual violence is experienced is in school (WHO, 2002). Similar to cases of rape or sexual violence by male students, most schools lack reporting structures. Victims often report that there is no one to report to as school administrators are involved just as much as teachers (Human Rights Watch, Burton, 2005, Leach et al., 2003; Tweedie et al., 1997). The French teacher tried to force me. I pleaded with him and told him I had my menses [monthly period] and I would come back another day. I never went back to his house. He then made me kneel in the corner of the classroom on crushed gravels, and he failed me. The headmaster and bursar had already tried to get me, so I could not report the teacher to them. When I told my school mates, they told me I was a fool and should be glad all these powerful men want me. They said I could get lots of money and good grades from them. (Female adolescent from Ghana as cited in Tweedie et al., 1997) When school administrations are informed they often act more as an obstruction to penalizing the offender than supporting the victim. Researchers report that administrators will often try to intervene with parents, recommending that the school take care of the issue rather than the police, mostly in an effort to prevent embarrassment to the school rather than protect or support the victim (Burton, 2005; Dunne, Humpheys, & Leach, 2005; Human Rights Watch, 2001, 2002; USAID, 2002). Reporting to school officials often increases the risk of harassment towards the victim by the girls’ peers, teachers, and administrators (Human Rights Watch, 2001; IRIN, 2008). A typical response is to blame the victim, particularly when the girl becomes pregnant. Many administrators, teachers, peers, and students report that girls asked for the attention, lead the man on, or justified that men need sex and women need money and therefore it is not that big of a deal (Burton, 2005; Human Rights Watch, 2001; Ilika & Anthony, 2004; Jejeebhoy & Bott, 2003; 42

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Leach et al., 2003; Luke & Kurz, 2002; Swidler & Watkins, 2007; USAID, 2002). In a study conducted in Malawi, 76% of reported perpetrators who forced adolescent girls to give oral sex, 75% of perpetrators who forced adolescent girls to have penetrative sex, and 77% of perpetrators who touched girls in sexual ways on the genitals, breasts, and buttocks only received a warning to stop the action (Burton, 2005). If a student was responsible for the committing the sexual assault, then 15% of student perpetrators who forced girls to perform oral sex or sexually harassed girls with unwanted touching and 8% of student perpetrators who forced girls to have penetrative sex were punished with a beating or other type of corporal punishment (Burton, 2005). School teachers and administrators maintain significant power and control over students’ educational achievements making any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, against a student as coercion and should not be tolerated in schools (WHO, 2002). However, responses to teacher sexual abuse of students are treated less seriously with fewer consequences then responses to male student perpetrators. When the perpetrator is identified as a teacher, the most common response is to give the teacher a verbal warning, transfer the teacher to another school, provide financial or material compensation to the girl’s family, and in a rare case, force him to marry the girl (Burton, 2005; Leach, Machakanja, & Mandoga, 2000; Leach, et al, 2003;USAID, 2002; WHO, 2002). Most responses by school administrators in dealing with school-related sexual violence committed by teachers can be classified as an attempt to contain the incident and potential embarrassment to the school. If a girl has been compensated for sex, then no rape or illegal and unethical offense has been committed. Or, in cases where rape has been discovered, the solution has been to provide financial compensation to the family, in which case a sexual transaction has occurred, and again no illegal or unethical offense has occurred. This allows the school administrator to diffuse any potential public embarrassment for the school (Human Rights Watch, 2001). Diffusing embarrassment to the school, however, ignores the responsibility of the school to the needs of the victim. Transactional sex and cultured gender norms that uphold the power of men over women and adolescent girls leads to the commodification of girls, strips them of their ability to control their own fertility, and violates their sexual rights. School-related gender-based sexual violence towards girls is a serious determinant in keeping some girls out of school, as parents are reluctant to allow their daughters to be exposed to these forms of abuse in schools. When schools do not acknowledge the abuse that older male students and teachers inflict upon female students, girls learn that sexual violence and abuse are an inescapable part of going to school every day. This leaves them with few options, stop going to school or endure the sexual violence (Bregman & Stallmeister, 2002; Human Rights Watch, 2001; World Bank, 2002). Research studies and reports indicate that school related sexual harassment and violence, whether enacted by teachers or administrators, or when actions by male student peers are condoned or accusations of sexual violence are dismissed, girls reported being unable to concentrate, losing interest in school, attempting to transfer to a different school, and many withdrew completely (Hallam, 1994; Human Rights 43

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Watch, 2001; Terefe & Mengistu, 1997; UNICEF, 2007). In studies of teachers that have asked about the effect of student-teacher sexual relationships, the majority of respondents recognize the negative consequences of student-teacher sexual relationships. Respondents note that students face the more severe consequences of such relationships including pregnancy, STI and or HIV infection, dropping out of school, declining grades and repeating grades, and harassment by parents and peers (Adamchak, 2005; UNICEF, 2007). Even in countries where there are policies that prevent girls from being kicked out of school for being pregnant, most studies report that once girls are discovered to be pregnant they are forced to leave school, while allowing the male student or teacher responsible to remain in the school. The challenge of reaching universal primary schooling in the SSA region is formidable. The issue of school related gender-based sexual harassment and violence can no longer be ignored when addressing issues of access and retention. Poverty makes students vulnerable to preying men, whether they be sugar-daddies, male students, or school teachers and administrators. These men exploit student’s need for financial assistance to pay for school fees, uniforms, books, school supplies, food, clothing, and feminine hygiene products in exchange for sexual gratification. When gender-based sexual violence occurs in and around schools, with little or no consequence to perpetrators schools abuse the trust placed on them by students, families, and communities. By not protecting adolescent female students from sexual violence, they not only hurt students, but go against the ethical and professional standards that schools are charged to maintain (Human Rights Watch, 2001; Shumba, 2001; USAID, 2002). School-related gender-based violence is not only ethically deplorable but a complete abuse of the trust placed on teachers and administrators who exert their power and influence to take advantage of their students by exploiting their vulnerability, fears, weaknesses, or tricking them as a result of their lack of understanding, helplessness or need (Leach, Machakanja, & Mandoga, 2000). A school environment that discounts the rights of adolescent girls to control their own sexuality also creates obstacles for other major policy initiatives in the region. Schools have been charged with providing knowledge and skills to protect adolescents from STI and HIV infection as well as pregnancy (Kelly, 2000; World Bank/UNESCO/UNAIDS, 2002). The World Bank (2002, 2003) has identified school as the “window of hope” in reversing growing HIV trends in several parts of the world and as a “social vaccine” to prevent infection among adolescent youth. Schools are charged with implementing HIV and life skills curricula that focus on abstinence, safe sex and sex based on mutual consent and negotiation. However, when these same schools maintain and tolerate an environment of coercion, forced sexual experiences, and limited options for females within relationships, contradictory messages are transmitted (Leach et al., 2003). A school that promotes gender norms that maintain and support dominant stereotypical masculine identities and behaviours by forcing females to be tolerant of sexual violence makes girls increasingly vulnerable of sexual violence within the school (Leach et al., 2003). A contradiction emerges between the school as a location for high risk 44

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sexual practice and the school as an effective forum for teaching about and encouraging safe sex. The school can not be an effective forum for teaching about and encouraging safe sex and negotiation skills when the actual practice and culture of the school permits high risk sexual behaviour that denies adolescent girls control over their own sexual decisions (Leach et al., 2003). Over the past one and a half centuries, mass education has played a significant preventative role in many public health problems associated with higher morbidity and greater mortality, and as a result, has been labelled a social vaccine (Kelly, 2000; World Bank, 2003). There are many trend studies across developing nations showing a correlation between growing mass education and fertility decline, better maternal health, and healthier lifestyles thus lowering infant and adult mortality and raising life expectancies education has a social vaccine effect even after controlling for confounding factors such as relative social status and wealth, and access to health care. (e.g. Axinn & Barber, 2001; Backlund, Sorlie, & Johnson 1999; Baker, Collins, & Leon, 2008; Caldwell, 1980; Castro-Martin, 1995; Christenson & Johnson, 1995; Deaton & Paxson, 1999; de Walque, 2004; de Walque, Nakiyingi-Miiro, Busingye, & Whitworth, 2005; Elo & Preston, 1996; Feinstein, 1993; Grossman & Kaestner, 1997; Kenkel, 1991; Kitagawa & Hauser, 1973; Lleras-Muney, 2005; Mirowski & Ross, 2003; Phelan, Link, Diez Roux, Kawachi, & Levin, 2004; Rogers, Hummer, & Nam, 2000; Ross & Wu, 1995). All of this empirical literature adds up to the conclusion that formal education has an enduring, consistent, and increasing effect on an individual’s health, particularly for women (Castro-Martin, 1995; Hargreaves & Glynn, 2002; Mirowski & Ross, 2003). The ultimate tragedy of school-related gender based sexual violence is that with an increased push for access to schools, particularly for girls, schools now are set to play a widespread preventive role and social vaccine for adolescent girls in SSA. However, as schoolgirls continue to experience sexual violence that leads to pregnancy, STI, HIV, and being forced to drop out, the challenge for schools to protect and empower girls and women grows. In order for girls to achieve equal educational opportunities and benefit from school attendance, the effects of school-related gender-based sexual violence including teenage pregnancy, high rates of sexually transmitted infections, and HIV have to be considered in policy discussions of female access and retention. As long as studies that examine female education ignore school-related sexual violence directed at adolescent girls, we will never reach truly equal educational opportunities. As long as girls are forced to be objects to satisfy the sexual desires and egos of their male peers and teachers, and then forced to bear all responsibility for teenage pregnancy and other sexually transmitted infections, girls will continue to be forced out of the education system. REFERENCES Abrahams, N. (2008). Sexual coercion within South African schools. Paper presented at AERA Conference in New York City on March 24.

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JOHN COLLINS Adamchak, S. E. (2005). Findings of a survey of teachers: Strengthening HIV/AIDS partners in education (SHAPE 2). World Education, Ghana: Accra. Afenyadu, D., & Goparaju, L. (2003). Adolescent sexual and reproductive health behaviour in Dodowa, Ghana. Washington, DC: USAID. Ajuwon, A. J., Olley, B. O., Akin-Jimoh, I., & Akintola, O. (2001). Experience of sexual coercion among adolescents in Ibadan, Nigeria. African Journal of Reproductive Health, 5(3), 120-131. Andersson, N., Ho-Foster, A., Matthis, J., Marokoane, N., Mashiane, V., Mhatre, S., et al. (2004). National cross sectional study of views on sexual violence and risk of HIV infection and aids among South African school pupils. BMJ, 329(7472), 952-957. Axinn, W.G., Barber, J.S. (2001). Mass education and fertility transition. American Sociological Review, 66(4), 481-505. Backlund, E., Sorlie, P. D., & Johnson, N. J. (1999). A comparison of the relationships of education and income with mortality: The national longitudinal mortality study. Social Science & Medicine, 49(10), 1373-1384. Bailey, S. M. (2008) School-related, gender-based violence and civic education. Paper Presented at AERA Conference in New York City on March 24. Baker, D., Collins, J. M., & Leon, J. (2007). The education effect and unhealthy risk behavior: A metaanalysis. The Pennsylvania State University: Population Research Institute Working Paper. Balmer, D. H., Gikundi, E., Billingsley, M. C., & Kihuho, F. G. et al. (1997). Adolescent knowledge, values, and coping strategies: Implications for health in sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Adolescent Health, 21, 33-38. Botswana Gazette (2000, November 15). Sexual abuse of schoolgirls widespread in Botswana. Accessed on August 15, 2008 from http://www.afrol.com/News/bot005_girls_abused.htm. Bregman J., & Stallmeister, S. (2002) Secondary Education in Africa (SEIA). A regional study of the Africa region of the World Bank. Washington, DC: World Bank. Burton, P. (2005). Suffering at school: Results of the Malawi gender-based violence in schools survey. Pretoria, South Africa: Institute for Security Studies. Caldwell, J. C. (1980). Mass education as a determinant of the timing of fertility decline. Population and Development Review, 6(2), 225-255. Caldwell, J. C., & Caldwell, P. (1988). Is the Asian family planning program model suited to Africa? Studies in Family Planning, 19, 19-28. Caldwell, J., Caldwell, P., Ankrah, E. M., Anarfi, J. K., Agyeman, D. K., & Awusabo-Asare, K., et al. (1993). African families and aids: Context, reactions and potential interventions. Health Transition Review, 3(Suppl), 1-14. Castro-Martin, T. (1995). Women’s education and fertility: Results from 26 demographic and health surveys. Studies in Family Planning, 26(4), 187-202. Chapko, M. K., Somsé, P., Kimball, A. M., & Massanga, M. (1999). Predictors of rape in the Central African Republic. Health Care for Women International, 20(1), 71-79. Christenson, B. A., & Johnson, N. E. (1995). Educational inequality in adult mortality: An assessment with death certificate data from Michigan. Demography, 32, 215-230. Dahlberg, L. L., & Krug, E. G. (2006). Violence a global public health problem. Ciência & Saúde Coletiva, 11(2), 277-292. Davies, C. (ND). Majority of students molested by teachers in Botswana. Gaborone: Inter Press Services. Accessed on August 30, 2008 at http://www.unesco.org/education/efa/know_sharing/ grassroots_stories/botswana.shtml. Deaton, A., & Paxson, C.H. (1999). Mortality, education, income, and inequality among American cohorts No. NBER Working Paper No. W7140: National Bureau of Economic Research. DeRose, L. F., Dodoo, F. N.-A., & Patil, V. (2002). Fertility desires and perceptions of power in reproductive conflict in Ghana. Gender and Society, 16(1), 53-73. de Walque, D. (2004). Education, information, and smoking decisions: Evidence from smoking histories, 1940-2000. World Bank working paper no. 3362. Washington, DC: World Bank.

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WHEN SCHOOLS FAIL TO PROTECT GIRLS de Walque, D., Nakiyingi-Miiro, J. S., Busingye, J., & Whitworth, J. A. (2005). Changing association between schooling levels and HIV-1 infection over 11 years in a rural population cohort in southwest Uganda. Tropical Medicine and International Health, 10(10), 993-1001. Dickson-Tetteh, K. (2001). Adolescent reproductive health in Africa, a problem or a priority (editorial). African Journal of Reproductive Health, 5(3), 11-14. Dunne, M., Humphreys, S., & Leach, F. (2006). Gender violence in schools in the developing world. Gender and Education, 18(1), 75-98. Elo, I. T., & Preston, S. H. (1996). Educational differentials in mortality: United States, 1979–1985. Social Science & Medicine, 42(1), 47-57. Erulkar, A. S. (2004). The experience of sexual coercion among young people in Kenya. International Family Planning Perspectives, 30(4), 182-190. Feinstein, J.S. (1993). The relationship between socioeconomic status and health: A review of the literature. The Milbank Quarterly, 71(2), 279-322. Glover, E. K., Bannerman, A., Pence, B. W., Jones, H., Miller, R., & Weiss, E., et al. (2003). Sexual health experiences of adolescents in three Ghanaian towns. International Family Planning Perspectives, 29(1), 32-41. Gray, R. F. (1960). Sonjo bride-price and the question of African wife purchase. American Anthropologist, 62(1), 34-57. Grossman, M., & Kaestner, R. (1997). Effects of education on health. In Behrman, J. R., & Stacey, N. (Eds.), The social benefits of education. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. Hargreaves, J. R., & Glynn, J.R. (2002). Educational attainment and HIV-1 infection in developing countries: A systematic review. Tropical Medicine & International Health, 7(6), 489-498. Heise, L., Moore, K., & Toubia, N. (1995). Sexual coercion and reproductive health: A focus on research. New York: Population Council. Heise, L., Pitanguy, J., & Germain, A. (1994). Violence against women: The hidden health burden. Washington DC: World Bank. Helitzer-Allen, D. (1993). An investigation of community-based communication networks of adolescent girls in rural Malawi for HIV/STD/AIDS prevention messages. Report in Brief. Washington, DC: International Centre for Research on Women, Women and AIDS Research Program. Human Rights Watch (2001). Scared at school: Sexual violence against girls in South African schools. New York, NY: Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch (2002). Suffering in silence: The links between human rights abuses and HIV transmission to girls in Zambia. New York, NY: Human Rights Watch. Hunter, M. (2002). The materiality of everyday sex: Thinking beyond ‘prostitution’. African Studies, 61(1), 99-120. Ilika, A., & Anthony, I. (2004). Unintended pregnancy among unmarried adolescents and young women in Anambra state, south east Nigeria. African Journal of Reproductive Health, 8(3), 92-102. IRIN (July 23, 2008). Zambia: Mary muyunda, “the school should be a safe place for all the pupils”. IRIN, The humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, pp. Accessed at http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79400 on August 79408, 72008. Isiugo-Abanihe, U. C. (1994). Reproductive motivation and family-size preferences among Nigerian men. Studies in Family Planning, 25(3), 149-161. Isiugo-Abanihe, U. C. (1995). Bridewealth, marriage and fertility in the east-central states of Nigeria. Genus, 51(3-4), 151-178. Jejeebhoy, S. J., & Bott, S. (2003). Non-consensual sexual experiences of young people: A review of the evidence from developing countries: South & East Asia regional working paper no. 16. New Delhi, India: Population Council. Jewkes, R., Vundule, C., Maforah, F., & Jordaan, E. (2001). Relationship dynamics and teenage pregnancy in South Africa. Social Science & Medicine, 52(5), 733-744. Jewkes, R., Levin, J., Mbananga, N., & Bradshaw, D. (2002). Rape of girls in South Africa. Lancet, 359, 319–320.

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JOHN COLLINS Kaufman, C. E., & Stavrou, S. E. (2004). ‘Bus fare please’: The economics of sex and gifts among young people in urban South Africa. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 6(5), 377-391. Kelly, M. J. (2000). The encounter between HIV/AIDS and education. Harare, Zimbabwe: UNESCO, Sub-Regional Office for Southern Africa. Kenkel, D.S. (1991). Health behavior, health knowledge, and schooling. The Journal of Political Economy, 99(2), 287-305. Kgosidintsi, N. (1997). Sexual behaviour and risk of HIV infection among adolescent females in Botswana. Gaborone, Botswana: National Institute of Development, Research and Documentation. Kiragu, K., & Zabin, L. (1993). Contraceptive use among high school students in Kenya. International Family Planning Perspectives, 21(3), 108-113 Kitagawa, E. M., & Hauser, P. M. (1973). Differential mortality in the United States: A study in socioeconomic epidemiology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Leach, F. (2008). Gender violence in schools in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence and impact. Paper Presented at AERA Conference in New York City on March 24. Leach, F., Fiscian, V., Kadzamira, E., Lemani, E., & Machakanja, P. (2003). An investigative study of the abuse of girls in African schools. London: Department for International Development. Leach, F. E., & Mitchell, C. (2006). Combating gender violence in and around schools. Sterling, VA: Trentham Books. Leach, F., Machakanja, P., & Mandoga, J. (2000). Preliminary investigation of the abuse of girls in Zimbabwean junior secondary schools. Education report paper no. 39. London: DFID - Department for International Development. Lleras-Muney, A. (2005). The relationship between education and adult mortality in the United States. Review of Economic Studies, 72(1), 189-221. Luke, N. (2008). Economic status, informal exchange, and sexual risk in Kisumu, Kenya. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 56(2), 375-396. Luke, N., & Kurz, K. (2002). Cross-generational and transactional sexual relations in sub-Saharan Africa: Prevalence of behaviour and implications for negotiating safer sexual practices. Washington, DC: ICRW and PSI. Mensch, B. S., & Lloyd, C. B. (1998). Gender differences in the schooling experiences of adolescents in low-income countries: The case of Kenya. Studies in Family Planning, 29(2), 167-184. Mbassa Menick, D. (2001, September 28). Les abus sexuels en milieu scolaire au Cameroun résultats d'une recherche-action a Yaounde. Paper presented at the Committee on the Rights of the Child Day of General Discussion. “Violence against children within the family and in schools”, Geneva, Switzerland. Mirowsky, J., & Ross, C. E. (2003). Education, social status, and health. New York: Aldine de Gruyer. Molestane, R., Stuart, J., Walsh, S. D. & Taylor, M. (2008). Ethical issues in using participatory video in addressing gender violence in and around schools: The challenges of representation. Paper Presented at AERA Conference in New York City on March 26. Muthien, B., & Combrinck, H. (2003). When rights are wronged: Gender-based violence & human rights in Africa. In M. B. Kuumba & M. White (Eds.), Transnational transgressions: African women, struggle and transformation in global perspective. Naylor, N. (2002). Prohibiting the ongoing sexual harassment of and sexual violence against learners. Education Rights Project: Issues in Education Rights Papers, retrieved August 13, 2008, from http://www.erp.org.za/htm/issue4-1.htm Nnko, S., & Pool, R. (1997). Sexual discourse in the context of AIDS: Dominant themes on adolescent sexuality among primary school pupils in Magu district, Tanzania. Health Transition Review, 7(Suppl. 3), 85-90. Panos (2003). Beyond victims and villains: Addressing sexual violence in the education sector. Panos report no. 47. London: Panos. Perlez, J. (1991, July 29). Kenyans do some soul-searching after the rape of 71 schoolgirls. New York Times, accessed on August 13, 2008 at http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9 D0CEEDE103FF93AA15754C0A967958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all.

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WHEN SCHOOLS FAIL TO PROTECT GIRLS Phelan, J. C., Link, B. G., Diez Roux, A., Kawachi, I., & Levin, B. (2004). “Fundamental causes” of social inequalities in mortality: A test of the theory. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 45(3), 265-286. Okonofua, F. (2001). Gendered socialisation: A neglected issue in adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Africa (editorial). African Journal of Reproductive Health, 5(3), 7-10. Okumu, M. I., Chege, I. N., Youri, P., & Hezron, O. (1994). Female adolescent health and sexuality in Kenyan secondary schools: A survey report. Nairobi: African Medical and Research Foundation. Rahul, S., Grover, V. L., & Chaturvedi, S. (2008). Risk behaviors related to inter-personal violence among school and college-going adolescents in south Delhi. Indian Journal of Community Medicine, 33(2), 85-88. Rogers, R. G., Hummer, R. A., & Nam, C. B. (2000). Living and dying in the USA: Behavioral, health, and social differentials of adult mortality. New York, NY: Academic Press. Ross, C. E., & Wu, C. L. (1995). Education, age, and the cumulative advantage in health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 37(1), 104-120. Rossetti, S. (2001). Children in school: A safe place? Botswana: UNESCO. Shumba, A. (2001). ‘Who guards the guards in schools?’ – A study of reported cases of child abuse by teachers in Zimbabwean secondary schools. Sex Education, 1(1), 77-86. Swidler, A., & Watkins, S. C. (2007). Ties of dependence: Aids and transactional sex in rural Malawi. Studies in Family Planning, 38(3), 147-162. Terefe, D. & Mengistu, D. (1997) Violence in Ethiopian schools: A study of some schools in Addis Ababa. In T. Ohsako (Ed.), Violence at school: Global issues and interventions. Paris: UNESCO. Tweedie, I., Kofi Glover, E., Bannerman, A., Nerquaye-Tetteh, J., & Arkhurst, S. (1997). Context and content of condom negotiation and sex refusal skills among youth in Ghana: Report on qualitative research using a “storyline” methodology. (Unpublished report) Varga, C.A. (1997). Sexual negotiation and decision-making in the midst of AIDS: Youth in KwaZuluNatal, South Africa. Health Transmission Review, 7(suppl. 3): 45-68. UNAIDS (2007). AIDS epidemic update. Geneva: Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and World Health Organization (WHO). UNESCO (2004). EFA global monitoring report: Gender and education for all – The leap to equality. Paris: UNESCO. UNESCO (2007). Education for all by 2015: Will we make it? EFA global monitoring report 2008. Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. UNICEF (2006). The state of the world’s children 2007: Women and children the double dividend of gender equality. New York: The United Nations Children’s Fund. United Nations Population Division (UNDP) (2007). World Population Prospects: The 2006 Revision Population Database. http://esa.un.org/unpp/p2k0data.asp>, accessed on August 19, 2008. USAID (2002). Unsafe schools: A literature review of school-related gender-based violence in developing countries. Washington, DC: USAID. Wood, K., & Jewkes, R. (1997). Violence, rape, and sexual coercion: Everyday love in a South African township. Gender and Development, 5(2), 41-46. Wood, K., Maforah, N. F., & Jewkes, R. (1996). Sex, violence and constructions of love among Xhosa adolescents: Putting violence on the sexuality education agenda. Hlabisa, South Africa: Centre for Epidemiological Research in Southern Africa (CERSA). Wood, K., Mafirah, F., & Jewekes, R. (1998). “He forced me to love him”: Putting violence on adolescent sexual health agendas. Social Science Medicine, 47(16), 233-42. World Bank (2002). Education and HIV/AIDS: A window of hope. Washington, DC: World Bank. World Bank (2003). Education: The social vaccine to HIV/AIDS. Washington, DC: The World Bank. Accessed at http://go.worldbank.org/VXSUKCHBJ0 on December 12, 2007. World Bank/UNESCO/UNAIDS (2002). Press release: In turning the tide against HIV/AIDS, education is key. Retrieved January 11, 2008, from http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=7195& URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html WHO (2002). World report on violence and health. Geneva: WHO.

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AFFILIATIONS

John M. Collins Educational Theory & Policy Pennsylvania State University USA

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“THE TRICKS OF THE TEACHER” Shadow Education and Corruption in Cambodia

INTRODUCTION

Education that starts with a crime will inevitably end with a catastrophe. This statement was made by Egypt’s Minister of Education in 1997 to condemn the practice of state teachers charging the students in their public school classes for private tutoring (quoted in Bray, 1999, p. 62). This form of shadow education wherein state teachers conduct private tutoring for their own students is well documented by Bray and not unusual to find in many developing countries such as Cyprus, Indonesia, Lebanon, Nigeria, and Russia (Bray, 1999, p. 37). However, the dilemma arises as to whether these teachers are practicing a corrupt practice in consideration of their role as educational representatives of the state and the potential for economic gain in relation to their inadequate salaries. In this chapter the situation in Cambodia will be examined as it exhibits these factors in order to discuss teacher corruption within the shadow education system as it affects equal opportunity for education and the global movement for Education for All (EFA). As such it is necessary to discuss educational expansion in Cambodia within the wider context of the political arena in this fledgling democracy. Just a few short months ago on July 27th, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodia People’s Party (CPP) won a majority of the seats in Cambodia’s parliament which will inevitably lead to a continuation of his 23-year period of rule in office. While the 23-year term of continuous rule, as the longest current period for a politician in Southeast Asia, does indicate some degree of political stability, Hun Sen remains in power largely as a result of his past efforts through coercion to hinder the development of a multi-party democracy and promote the development of an extensive network of government corruption which the CPP supports (The Australian, 2008). POLITICAL CONTEXT OF EDUCATION IN CAMBODIA

The Cambodian education system has long been at the mercy of the political system resulting in repeated failures with tragic consequences for the Cambodian people. Cambodian education reached its peak of development in the 1960s, at which time teachers and civil servants were well paid, honored and respected. S.P. Heyneman (ed.), Buying Your Way into Heaven, 51–73. © 2009 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

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However, this peak in educational expansion was devastated by the civil war of the 1970s and then destroyed by the policies of the Khmer Rouge who eradicated the pre-existing system and executed 75% of the country’s teachers and intellectuals (Duggan, 1996; Ayres, 2000). The end of the Khmer Rouge period with Vietnamese occupation (1979-1989) saw an attempt to implant a new brand of socialism (Clayton, 2000). Cambodia’s emergence into a post-socialist future with the UNCTAD elections in 1991, raises the challenge of whether Cambodia’s political and economic system should be examined as a state in some sub-region of Asia or as a post-socialist state. Steiner-Khamsi raises the question of how to position post-socialist states with relation to their socialist past and geographic location (Steiner-Khamsi, 2006). The origins of the political system and its effects on educational development have been well documented by Ayres (2000) who attributed the failings of past regimes to expand education in Cambodia to the political culture and the conflict between tradition and modernity. This chapter will diverge from that cultural explanation in focusing on the political system as it manifests itself in corrupt practices which affect the work of teachers, education of students, and equity in Cambodia society. The term “shadow education” while conceived to describe a parallel system to mass schooling also exhibits characteristics of a shadow economy (Baker & LeTendre, 2005). Bray (1999) refers to the growth of “shadow education” and calls for further examination of this expanding sector which appears to be “a social response to inadequacies in government quantitative and qualitative inputs” leading to “an exacerbation of social inequalities” (1999, p. 84). Private tutoring by Cambodia’s state teachers threatens efforts toward EFA and access to a free primary education, a right which is included in both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, to which Cambodia is a signatory. However, it is difficult to simply characterize this private tutoring practice as corruption. A World Bank report (2008) states that teachers in Phnom Penh earn a salary equivalent to approximately 1.8 times the per capita poverty line and as sole income earners with children would likely live in poverty if they relied on their salary alone (V). For this very reason, some researchers hesitate to call the practice corruption in stating that, “there is no intention what-so-ever to cast blame on teachers for collecting ‘informal fees’ in an education system that not only tolerates this practice, but relies on it to function” (NEP, 2007A, p. 2). The Cambodian education system presents a particular challenge for development agencies because of its heavy dependence on foreign ODA and high level of government corruption. Transparency International rated Cambodia 166th out of 180 countries on its Corruption Perceptions Index within which lower ranked countries display higher degrees of corruption. In 2006, government graft in World Bank infrastructure and water sanitation projects in Cambodia led the World Bank to threaten to cancel those projects worth US$64 million and to demand repayment of misused funds (BBC, 2006). Despite such threats, the multilateral agencies remain firmly entrenched in the education sector in Cambodia.

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CURRENT STATE OF PRIMARY EDUCATION IN CAMBODIA

Cambodia is strongly dependent on outside sources for education funding. Total education spending from outside sources in 2002 amounted to US$44.6 million, which consisted of funds from ADB (31.9%), the World Bank (16.8%), UNICEF (14.0%), and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (12.4%) (Bray & Bunly, 2005, p. 17). In addition to this large-scale funding to the education system, with Cambodia’s participation in the Fast Track Initiative Program of the World Bank, Cambodia will receive US$57.4 million from 2008 to 2010, which will provide substantial increases to the education budget. While these figures are impressive they mask high levels of household expenditure for education, and the increases in funding and efforts to eradicate corruption from the education sector may be too little and too late. Nevertheless, there have been significant strides made toward Cambodia’s fulfilment of Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) for education. The table below provides an overview of the expansion of education over the past few years. Table 1. Cambodia education statistics Indicator Equitable Access

2002-03

Primary Net Admission Rate

Total

Primary Gross Admission Rate Primary Gross Enrolment Rate

Female

2005-06

78.1%

82.6%

Female

75.7%

81.8%

Total

134.4%

130.4%

Female

127.3%

125.1%

Total

118.0%

124.0%

112.0%

118.6%

Quality and Efficiency Primary Completion Grade 6

Total

51.7%

79.5%

Average Primary repetition rate

Female

46.5%

77.1%

Total

10.2%

12.8%

Female

9.4%

11.5%

Financial and Institutional Govt expenditure for education as % of recurrent

17.1%

18.3%

Primary Per capita school operating budget

72,000

92,000

Secondary Per capita school operating budget (Riel)

148,000

168,000 (EC, 2006, p. 9)

As this study focuses on the primary level, it is necessary to focus on enrollment rates at that level. Primary Net Enrolment Rates decreased somewhat from 91.9% 53

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in 2004-05 to 91.3% in 2005-06 but continued to increase by 0.8% per annum over the three year period 2002-03 to 2005-06. In contrast, primary Gross Enrolment Rates (GER) averaged 2% increases per annum over the same period due to the large influx of many overage students in 2001-02 following the abolition of formal primary school fees. While late admission and repetition rates continue to contribute to depressed net enrolment figures expansion seems to be moving in a positive direction as seen in Table 2 below. Table 2. Gross and net enrollment rates in Cambodia Chart 4: Primary NER and GER 130 125

Percentage

120 115 110 105 100 95 90 85 80

2002-03

2003-04

2004-05

2005-06

Female NER

86.8

88.6

90.7

89.7

Male NER

91.0

91.5

93.1

93.0

Total NER Female GER

88.9

90.1

91.9

91.3

112.0

115.1

114.4

118.6

Male GER

123.8

124.5

125.0

129.4

Total GER

118.0

119.9

119.7

124.0

Academic Year

(EC, 2006, p. 12)

Interestingly better progress is being made toward achieving goals in rural and remote areas than urban areas. Overall, the primary net enrolment rate (NER) is below the 2005-06 nationwide target of 95%. However, rural and remote areas have achieved NERs of 91.7% and 83.7% respectively. These results are only marginally below their respective targets of 92% and 84% while the urban areas have lagged behind. Optimism generated by these statistics must be tempered by other data presented below. As in many countries, household surveys reveal significantly lower estimates of school enrolments as shown in Table 3. The Priority Action Program (PAP) fund has overcome several barriers to providing free basic education to all; however, many still remain (NEP, 2007a, p. 2). Bray’s 1999 study shoed that in the late 1990s households and communities were meeting approximately 59.0% of the total resources of primary schooling, even in the public school system. The government was providing about 12.5%, politicans contributed 10.4% in donations, and NGOs and external agencies

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Table 3. Household surveys versus EMIS data in Cambodia 100 90 80

78.3

85.5

83.8

65

69.5

88.9

87

90.1

91.9

91.3

79.7

76

77

Percent

70 60 50 40

57.4

EMIS HH Surveys

30 20 10 0 1998/99

1999/00

2000/01 2001/02

2002/03 2003/04

2004/05

2005/06

Year

Source: EMIS data and various household surveys: CSES 1999, Demographic and Health Survey 2000, Cambodia Child Labor Survey 2001, Cambodia Income and Poverty Survey 2004, CSES 2004 and Demographic and Health Survey 2005. (World Bank, 2008, p. 6)

provided around 18.0% (Bray & Bunly, 2005, pp. 3-4). This high level of household cost is often the cause for drop-outs as evidenced by one study that reported that 63% of parents of drop-outs said their child dropped out for economic reasons (EC, 2006, p. 26). Irrespective of current enrolment figures, it is important to keep in mind that only 51% of boys and 34% of girls complete primary school (NEP, 2007b, p. 3). These figures do not address the quality of primary education which must be discussed in relation to the overall EFA movement in Cambodia and the ways by which private tutoring and promotion mechanisms affect equity in education. METHODS

This study conducted in the summer of 2008 seeks to refer to a number of studies done on private tutoring, informal fees, and teachers in Cambodia to re-examine the findings in those studies while exploring that space which private tutoring occupies within the education system in Cambodia. The choice was made to focus on the primary level in Cambodia as it approaches universal primary enrolment (UPE) in order to understand the obstacles to that achievement and initiatives taken to overcome those obstacles. The sample of schools was drawn from three progressively more rural provincial capitals in Phnom Penh, Kampong Cham, and Ban Leung. Rather than selecting a sample representative of all primary schools in Cambodia the purpose was to select schools where private tutoring was likely to occur according to the

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literature which referred to urban areas such as Phnom Penh and provincial capitals in semi-urban (Kampong Cham Province) and rural areas (Ratanakiri Province). Kampong Cham City (Population: 45,354) is the capital of Kampong Cham Province which is to the Northeast of the national capital, Phnom Penh (Population: 570,155). Ban Leung City (Population: 16,999) is the capital of Ratanakiri Province which is in the Northeastern corner of Cambodia bordering Laos and Vietnam, where the majority of the ethnolinguistic minority population of Cambodia resides (Cambodia National & Provincial Resources Data Bank, 1998). The sample of schools, teachers, and parents can be found in Table 4 below. Table 4. Sample size and number of respondents Province Phnom Penh Kampong Cham Ratanakiri Total

Schools 4 2 2 8

Teachers 44 14 14 72

Parents 94 51 52 197

Schools were selected in each province for equal representation of more affluent and more impoverished areas in each provincial capital. The sample of primary school teachers (Female: 58.6%; Male: 41.4%) completed a written questionnaire after which they participated in a 60-90 minute focus group interview. Four Parent questionnaires were distributed to each teacher who was asked to disburse them to an equal number of boys and girls in their classes. Of the 288 parents surveyed, 68.4% responded to the survey. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PRIVATE TUTORING

Private tutoring in the Cambodian case is referred to as an exacerbating influence on household expenditures for education and general barrier to further educational expansion and quality. The statistics from one study show that private tutoring expenses account for 72% of total school fees (NEP, 2007b, p. 17). The seriousness of the problem led the Cambodian government to attempt to ban private tutoring in the mid-1990s; however, the practice of teachers and schools levying fees is a worldwide occurrence in countries as diverse as China, India, Kenya, and Nigeria (Bray & Bunly, 2005, p. 81). As part of the previously mentioned Priority Action Programme in 2001 (PAP 2), registration fees were eliminated and remedial classes were instituted with additional teacher remuneration provided by the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport (Bray & Bunly, 2005, p. 24). An effort to abolish school fees is also mentioned in the Cambodian government’s EFA National Plan for 2006-2010 with the goal of abolishing informal school fees by this year (2008) in addition to addressing the issue of low teacher salaries (NEP, 2007b, p. 29). However, as the findings from this study will show this problem is far from solved.

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Fees for private tutoring represent one type of unofficial fees within a wider array of fees which are charged by teachers and schools. It is useful to present data on the multitude of fees which students and their families pay to teachers and schools as outlined in Table 5. We must notice that private tutoring fees are listed as a “payment for remedial class.” While the classification of these classes as “remedial” is problematic, the high level of participation in the classes is clear. Later in the chapter the content of these classes will be discussed in relation to different levels of education and promotion. Here is it necessary to discuss their purpose and why they exist within the wider system. Table 5. Unofficial fees Variable Registration fee Payment for book loan Payment during the public hour Payment for remedial class Payment for buying materials from teacher Payment for water, electricity, sanitation bill

Payment by primary pupils (%) No (%) Yes (%) 98.7 1.3 97.0 3.0 89.4 10.6 58.0 42.0 94.0 6.0 90.4 9.4 (MoEYS, 2005, p. 20)

Bray refers to the practice of teachers slowing down the pace of their public school classes to create a market for private tutoring, while data from this study points to other and more varied factors (1999, p. 37). There is clear displeasure with the practice from the public and the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport (MoEYS) which tried to prohibit the practice only to rescind that ban in acknowledgment of the low salaries of teacher which spur its continuation (Development Weekly cited in World Bank, 2008). The drain on the education system in Cambodia is clear in that the 2005 CSD Corruption assessment found that corruption in the public education sector accounted for US$37 million per year which is about 55% of the total corruption in public services in Cambodia (EIC, 2006, p. 7). The teachers are trapped by the civil service pay scale in that they must find alternate means of income generation to raise their families out of poverty and often resort to practices which lose the trust of the students and families they serve. The Cambodian word for teacher, “kru”, derives from the Sanskrit term “guru” and affords a great deal of respect (Ayres, 2000, p. 41). However, unless that respect is reflected in adequate teacher pay the position of teachers in Cambodian society will remain a precarious one. In order to discuss the general features of private tutoring it is useful to examine the responses of both teachers and parents in the surveys and interviews. This data presents essential information to describe the context of private tutoring and its perception by stakeholders.

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Table 6. Frequencies in private tutoring participation (from Teacher Survey) Variable Average number of students taking private tutoring Average number of students in a class Percentage of students taking private tutoring

Value 18.1 36.2 50.0%

Across the schools and the total sample the perception by teachers, as an approximation of student attendance in private tutoring classes was around 50% of their classroom enrollments. Of the total sample of 72 teachers, 51 teachers (70.8%) stated that they were doing some kind of private tutoring. When asked why they were doing private tutoring, fully 80.0% mentioned their low salaries and a need to increase their income. Teachers reported an average monthly income of US$61.16 from private tutoring which is more than their monthly teacher salary which is approximately US$44 according to a European Commission study (World Bank, 2008). About half of the teachers (46.5%) reported teaching one hour of private tutoring per day while most of the rest (37.2%) teach two hours per day. The site of private tutoring has important implications for access, cost and teacher income. There is some difficulty in obtaining accurate statistics on the frequency of private tutoring in public school sites as teachers are aware and have been warned not to conduct private tutoring at their schools. Table 7 represents the teachers reporting the site of private tutoring Table 7. Location of private tutoring Inside School Outside School

Phnom Penh 2.3% 50.0%

Kampong Cham 42.9% 50.0%

Ratanakiri 20% 33.3%

Total 13.9% 47.2%

As can be seen below in Table 8, parents report a much higher percentage of teachers offering private tutoring in the school. Among the factors which affect the offering of private tutoring inside schools the most important seems to be the availability of classrooms. All eight primary schools in this study have at least double-shift schooling with one school in a poorer area on the outskirts of Phnom Penh having triple-shift schooling. In the more crowded schools teachers are forced to conduct private tutoring in their own homes, if they are close to the school, or rent an apartment near the school. Inevitably this added cost is passed on to the students in the tutoring fees. Sixteen parents in the parent survey referred to unavailability of classrooms as the reason why their children were not taking private tutoring at school. Parents reported high attendance rates for their children in private tutoring classes offered in the schools as shown in Table 8.

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Table 8. Parents report of child attendance of private tutoring inside schools Province Phnom Penh Kampong Cham Ratanakiri Aggregate

Percentage 77.9% 54.9% 74.1% 71.0%

These statistics present a very different picture from the responses of teachers in Table 7. The researcher observed the group of teachers at one school in Phnom Penh who were encouraged by an administrator to erase all of their answers about private tutoring conducted inside schools to deny the existence of private tutoring in that school. Administrators and teachers are well aware of the sensitive nature of the topic of private tutoring as a result of the government’s attempts to eliminate the practice. Parents reported much higher percentages of their children’s teachers offering private tutoring (82.5%) and 60% of the parents had been encouraged by the teacher to pay for their children to attend the teacher’s private tutoring classes. Parents primarily reported sending their children to private tutoring to increase or deepen knowledge (53.4%). The next most important reason was for the child’s safety which was referred to in different degrees in the different provinces. Table 9. Child safety as rationale for private tutoring attendance Province Phnom Penh Kampong Cham Ratanakiri

Percentage 19.7% 13.0% 2.6%

The data in the table points to the fact that parents are particularly concerned about their children’s safety in more urban settings. This can be attributed to the fact that children are the targets of physical and sexual violence in Cambodia and the high incidence of traffic deaths in the larger cities. Parents referred to proximity to home and studying with a teacher they are familiar with, preferably their own public school teacher, as factors which influenced them in making private tutoring choices. Finally, there was one private tutoring curriculum which was highly desired but not offered in the public school curriculum. English language classes were very popular with parents and many sent their students to private tutoring outside schools for that reason. In total 18% of parents indicated that they were sending their children to English language lessons outside the primary schools. In fact, English language learning was the most common reason given for private tutoring outside the primary school in Phnom Penh (76.9%), Kampong Cham (44.4%), and Ratanakiri (68.8%). These private English classes were only offered in one of the eight schools in the sample; however, the classes were prominently advertised on the front gate of the school.

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THE TIMING OF PRIVATE TUTORING

Both the teachers and the parents were asked what the most important grades are for private tutoring. Traditionally there were exit examinations at the end of each level of schooling which determined promotions to the next level in the 6-3-3 system in Cambodia; however, the 6th Grade Examination was eliminated in 1993 to increase the promotion rate to lower secondary schools, reduce private tutoring, and eliminate the costs associated with administering the examination in an overall effort to meet EFA targets. As seen in Table 10 most parents referred to the transition grades as the most important grades for private tutoring. Table 10. Parent survey – What is the most important grade for private tutoring? Grade Level Grade 6 Grades 9 & 12 Grades 6, 9, & 12 All Grades

Percentage 23.5% 6.0% 7.5% 14.5%

The responses in Table 6 are important for two reasons. First, the responses establish a connection between private tutoring and the examinations. Second, they indicate that the elimination of the examination has not reduced private tutoring. This is because the exit examination has been replaced by the two semester examinations in Grade 6 as the new criteria which teachers use in making decisions on promotion of students to secondary education. While this would seem to indicate maintenance of the status quo, the MoEYS has placed much pressure on teachers to make promotions automatic in order to achieve national EFA targets. This leads to improvements in EFA indicator values with a negligible and perhaps negative effect on the quality of education in the 9-year compulsory cycle. The teachers referred to the need for private tutoring to prepare their students for MoEYS examinations administered during the 6th grade in saying that some of the exercises are not found in the textbooks. In contrast, some respondents also referred to the importance of lower grades as a foundation for learning. In a teacher focus group, one teacher said that, “most parents now think that when their children understand the lessons clearly from the low grades, they will do better in higher grades.” In a parent survey, one parent stated that Grade One is the most important “because it is the foundation for the next grades.” Building a strong foundation early in life is a well-established premise in the international literature on early childhood education; however there are certain aspects of this practice in the primary cycle in Cambodia which compromise equity. A FALSE HEAD START

The Head Start Program in the US represents a national program initiated by the Johnson Administration to provide preschool education to students from lower 60

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socioeconomic backgrounds and rural areas. For this study, a “false head start” refers to the practice of providing private tutoring for the grade level content of primary education during the 2-month vacation, from August to September, before that grade actually starts. The typical first grade class would start in October and commence private tutoring classes the next month in November. However, teachers offer private tutoring to the students during the summer vacation before the second grade. One teacher in Phnom Penh described the practice in the following terms: We use the textbooks for both subjects- Khmer and Math. For example, Grade 4 teacher teaches the lessons in Grade 5 to their students who will be promoted to grade 5 next year and other teachers do the same. It means that each teacher teaches their own students. Only the teachers have the textbooks, not the students. It is interesting to note that as only the teacher possesses the textbook for the next grade, he or she is able to monopolize the material and pressure the students and their parents to pay for private tutoring or put themselves at a disadvantage. At the same time, some parents’ responses to the survey indicate that they want this type of pre-grade tutoring for their students going so far as to say: During the school term, students will learn the same lessons a second time. This is the best way. However, the teachers recognize the disparities they are creating in their classes. When presented with a question regarding teaching a class at the beginning of the official school year with students who had already studied some material in the textbooks during summer vacation and some who had not, one teacher in Phnom Penh admitted that the pre-tutored students have more ability to solve difficult exercises and thus they are forced to create different tests for the two levels of students. THE COST OF PRIVATE TUTORING: NICKELING AND DIMING

Private tutoring undoubtedly puts students with a “head start” at an advantage in comparison to non-attending students. In reality private tutoring fees are only one type of a multitude of “unofficial fees” levied by teachers and schools in order to increase incomes and school revenues. The table below lists some of the more common of these fees and the average amounts according to region. The findings in this study differed slightly from the MoEYS data presented in Table 11. In Phnom Penh which fits into the “large urban” category, 78.4% of teachers stated that they charged 200 riel per day for private tutoring in the schools. In Kampong Cham which can be classified as a “large rural” city, 91.7% of teachers charged half that amount or 100 riel per day, while in Ratanakiri teachers did not report fees for providing private tutoring classes inside the schools. In the MoEYS study the parents are reporting fees for private tutoring which could be higher due to the difficulty parents have in distinguishing what payments their 61

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children are making for what fees in schools. Parents provide pocket money to their children on a daily basis and are often unaware of exactly how that money is used. The interesting aspect of the payment of fees is that it is a daily ritual in schools. Teachers reported varied success with collection of fees on a monthly or term basis. They seemed to settle on collecting fees from students’ pocket money which led them to collect the equivalent of about a nickel (200 riel = US$0.05) from students on a daily basis. The implications of this daily bribing ritual on socialization will be discussed in a later section. Table 11. Unofficial fees paid by grade 3 students

Outcome: Student reports: Paying to park bike (%) Average fee (Riel) Paying for extra classes (%) Average fee per class (Riel) Paying for teacher support (%) Average support fee (Riel) Paying other fee (%) Average other fee (Riel) Average fees paid (Riel)

Whole Sample average 2.1 133 14.6 453 15.2 292 18.1 318 171

Small Rural

Large Rural

Small Urban

Large Urban

0.0 ---6.7 259 11.6 249 17.2 522 136

0.0 ---10.3 244 15.0 234 16.9 227 99

2.8 358 14.2 491 22.0 949 13.3 703 381

8.7 128 40.3 513 25.0 350 25.8 303 367

Source: MoEYS Grade 3 Assessment, 2006 (World Bank, 2008, p. 59)

Including the various unofficial fees, parents bear a significant burden of the cost of schooling in Cambodia. According to the NEP October Report, a family in Phnom Penh has to pay US$157 to send one child to school which represents 8.1% of the family’s annual income. While the figure is lower at US$48 in a rural province such as Takeo Province, this figure represents 6.8% of annual income for a family. The costs are put into perspective once one considers that an average family in urban areas has 5.7 children while rural families have 5.3 children (NEP, 2007B). The “other fees” in Table 11 can include a number of fees such as registration and enrollment fees (abolished in 2001), water and energy fees, contributions for school ceremonies, gifts for teachers, and any number of bribes to teachers. Students may pay teachers to receive attendance booklets, to purchase passing or higher grades, to buy notes or exams, to buy the right to cheat on an exam, or even to skip a grade. There appears to be no end to the list of fees that teachers and administrators can dream up to fill their wallets and school coffers. The extent of these fees is particularly troubling in relation to the findings of a World Bank study which attribute 43% of the average household expenditure on primary education in urban areas to unofficial fees (EIC, 2006). Despite the better efforts of the Cambodian government and international donors, the Cambodian people remain largely unaware of their right to fee-free primary 62

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education. The EIC study found that 41% of respondents were confused as to whether the fees they were paying were official or unofficial. Furthermore, a quarter of parents were not aware of their children’s entitlement to free education (EIC, 2006, pp. ix, 2). However, there is one aspect of fee charges for private tutoring which indicates that teachers and parents have established their own shadow system for the levying of fees in an economy like that of Cambodia where the taxation system is largely not functioning. Five teachers in the teacher survey and several more in the interviews explicitly referred to the practice of allowing students from poorer families to attend private tutoring free of charge. In addition, teachers charge more for students from richer families than middle-income families according to their “affordability” or “capacity.” Teachers referred to parents visiting school to negotiate fees and stated their sympathy for the poorer students. We do not charge them (poorer students) in private tutoring class because we understand their poor situation and we are also poor. It was difficult to ascertain what percentage of teachers might be following this practice, but it is particularly interesting in light of the fact that many teachers also come from poor backgrounds and many had parents who were teachers. LOW SALARIES AND FORCED CORRUPTION

As previously noted, teachers struggle to support themselves and their families on a salary which is comparable to that of a garment worker in Cambodia. According to a European Commission study (EC, 2006), a primary teacher’s initial base salary in 2007 was about US$44 and meagerly complemented by various supplements which might add up to US$20 to the base salary. A school director receives a paltry US$0.50 in additional compensation (50). Bray recognizes that poorly compensated teachers are often “forced” to supplement their incomes while also pointing out the difficulty in raising salaries which are tied to the civil service payment scheme (Bray, 1999, p. 77). The PETS survey revealed that low pay is the top issue for discontent identified by 81% of teachers. The PETS survey also revealed that 88% of primary teachers have a second job to supplement their income. It is clear that the current teacher salary levels make it impossible for any individual to support a family. Bray and Bunly (2005) refer to several instances where large salary increases have been implemented. The situation was much bleaker in 1993 when the average official teacher’s salary was US$6 per month. In 1994 a 20% pay raise was granted in addition to a “prime pédagogique” of US$8 per month being provided to teachers and education officials. In 1998 an additional raise of 20% was put into effect (Bray & Bunly, 2005, p. 20). Nevertheless, the pace of salary increases is outpaced by the increase in market prices and cost of living in Cambodia. Ayres (2000) quotes the Asian Development Bank’s “Education Sector Review” of 1994 to describe the “prime pédagogique” as “a chance missed” in that teachers continued to pursue second and third jobs instead of devoting more time to 63

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education (171). Cambodian teachers have carried out labor strikes to protest inadequate salaries as far back as 1974 and more recently in 1999 (Ayres, 2000, pp. 90, 190). These statistics reveal the difficulties faced by individuals who pursue teaching careers in Cambodia. One of the teachers summed up the relationship between low salaries and public tutoring succinctly. I have private tutoring because I am poor and the salary provided by the government is too low to support my family. Chhinh (2003) in his study on teacher satisfaction referred to encountering two teachers breastfeeding their babies at school. When he asked them why they did not take maternity leave, they replied that if they did not come to school they would “starve to death” (7). Teachers in this study referred to their low social status and lack of respect due to their low salaries. Chhinh duly points out that some teachers do not charge poorer students and also refers to the “cost of emotional suffering” on the part of teachers, parents, and students due to teachers’ “forced” practice of private tutoring (8). In the EIC Study one teacher stated that teachers “feel ashamed and guilty to do so, but our children need rice to eat…Thus, we have no choice” (20). While one can sypathize with the plight of underpaid teachers, it is important to understand the complexity of their varied responses to their lack of income. The MoEYS Report of 2005 refers to teachers who withhold curriculum content important for examinations in order to persuade their students to pay for private tutoring. Similar to Bray’s reference to teachers who “slow down” classes, there are numerous ways by which teachers can coerce students to attend private tutoring. In the teacher interviews with a teacher from Ratanakiri, a particular forthcoming teacher referred to withholding important curriculum content. He explained this practice as follows: The tricks of the teacher … That’s the way we force the students to study in private tutoring. The teacher says the new math formulas are only introduced in private tutoring. Despite this deception on the part of teachers, there are parents who expressed sympathy for the plight of the economic struggles of the teachers who teach their children. In the EIC study, 67% of respondents felt that unofficial fees paid to a teacher were primarily used to “support the daily expenses of their family (sic)” (17). One of the parents in this study expressed a desire to send her child to private tutoring to “help the livelihood of the teacher” in addition to the child’s study needs. Virtually all the reports on primary education and EFA in Cambodia make reference to private tutoring, and there have been concerted efforts to address the problem. The Cambodian Government has pledged an across-the-board base salary raise of approximately 15 to 20% to all teachers annually (62). This policy is outlined in the Sector Wide Policy Action Matrix of the ESSP 2006-2010 which has been agreed to by the MoEYS (World Bank, 2008, p. 63). As ambitious as these 64

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increases may sound, it may be too little, too late. The danger is that national and international actors have missed a window of opportunity to increase salaries earlier to avoid the institutionalization of corruption throughout the national civil service. Present teachers refer with nostalgia to the socialist period when they enjoyed other benefits such as rice rations. The danger is that potential teachers in the modern capitalist labor market in Cambodia are unlikely to have much attraction toward the teaching profession at current salary levels with negative consequences for the future quality of education. PRIVATE TUTORING AS BABY-SITTING

Most of the reports refer to the low salary of teachers as the impetus for private tutoring in Cambodian primary schools. There is no mention of parental demand for private tutoring. However, the following quote from a parent in Kampong Cham illustrates the demand for teachers to provide childcare after the regular school hours. In my opinion PT in all grades are important because I do not want my child to be free. This statement indicates that parents do not have the time to monitor their children’s behavior outside of school. Many parents indicated that they want to reduce children’s unsupervised play time. The NEP October study revealed that 50.7% of families had two members of the family earning an income to support the family which would present problems for childcare (12). The demand for private tutoring as “baby-sitting” is not unique to the Cambodian case. Bray gives an example of a study in Malta which found that many working couples wanted supplementary tutoring for their children who they could not care for in the afterschool hours (Bray, 1999, p. 66). Bray further states that, “Supplementary tutoring provides a structured framework for young people to spend out-of-school time” (84). Parents in this study expressed a desire for more hours of private tutoring for their children. Undoubtedly this desire could stem from a need for more study time expressed by one parent in saying, “The more they take, the better they become.” However, teachers made several references to parents who are busy trying to make a living and need teachers to look after their children. Similar to teachers, parents in Cambodia struggle to make a living as the market economy expands in Cambodia. Teachers referred to parents who are “too busy to take care of their children” or parents who are “busy with their business.” The teachers state frankly that, “We have private tutoring because some parents and students want us to open the private tutoring.” In fact, there are cases where teachers cannot meet the demand for private tutoring as indicated by the quote below: Some students request to have PT class, but we do not have any room available. They also want to take PT during vacations, but we are too busy to continue our teaching.

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This quote also indicates that teachers are too busy, pursuing their second and third occupations, to provide private tutoring. The expansion of the market economy creates challenges for both parents and teachers in meeting economic, educational, and childcare needs. Beyond economic factors, parents and teachers are concerned about children’s safety in the society at large. Cambodia is a society where child exploitation in prostitution and industry is a grave concern. Children are also vulnerable to violent and sexual crime (similar to Collins Chapter) as well as traffic accidents if left unsupervised. Bray refers to the case of Brazil where some parents want afterschool tutoring for their children to keep them off of dangerous streets (Bray, 1999, p. 61). Parents in Cambodia worry about the safety of their children and prefer that children take private tutoring in primary schools because they are “protected by the teacher” and are “too young to travel far.” It is important to consider that with two and three-shift schooling children are in school for only about four hours per day. As families require multiple incomes to support their families in the market economy, without a lengthening of the school day, children will increasingly be exposed to dangers outside the home and school. PRIVATE TUTORING AS CURRICULUM COMPENSATION

Teachers referred to the “tricks of the teacher” such as witholding curriculum content in order to force students to attend private tutoring. Researchers also refer to teachers efforts to “slow down their pace of delivery in order to ensure that they have a market for the after-school supplementary classes” in countries such as Bangladesh, Egypt, and Cambodia (Bray, 1999, p. 55). The results of this study showed that exactly 50.0% of the teachers referred to insufficient time to cover curriculum content as a reason for providing private tutoring. While Bray argues that these teachers have “an incentive to describe the curriculum as too full” he also presents the case of Morocco where teachers offer private tutoring for this very reason (Bray, 1999, p. 55). There are clear cases where time is insufficient such as at the three-shift school in Phnom Penh where the teachers must cover four hours of curriculum content in three and a half hours. This school faced a number of problems such as students sitting two to a desk, temporary classrooms in tents, textbook shortages, flooding of the school, and two toilets for 2,000 students. However, in all the schools there seem to be problems related to curriculum content, pedagogy, and time. The MoEYS has diffused a “five-step teaching pedagogy” which includes: classroom management, review, new lesson, problem-solving, and assigning homework. This all must be accomplished during a 40-minute lesson and many teachers stated that it was not possible for them to complete the five steps in this time frame. One teacher explained the difficulty as follows: We teach based on the schedules set by the MoEYS, but we cannot complete all the subjects accurately. For example, we must teach 3 subjects per day, but if we follow the five steps, we can only do one subject.

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It appears that, while there may be cases where teachers slow down classes or withhold content, there are fundamental problems with the administration of curriculum and pedagogy which hamper teachers in their ability to convey knowledge to primary students. Perhaps it is best to perceive multiple causes for private tutoring as evidenced by the following quotations from a teacher and a parent: We do private tutoring because we want to explain in details the points that the students do not understand clearly in public class and we want to generate our income. (Teacher from Phnom Penh) I want my son to gain more knowledge because the time at school is too short to understand the lessons clearly. On the other hand, private tutoring helps to support the livelihood of the teacher. (Parent from Ratanakiri) These statements seem to indicate that all parties benefit from private tutoring in some way. Students are able to get supplementary instruction, and teachers can supplement their income. However, this mutually beneficial relationship can only be applied to the students who attend private tutoring. Attention must be paid to the reasons why some students do not attend private tutoring. The reasons for non-attendance are typically lack of funds to pay for private tutoring compounded by a need for children to help parents earn income. One parent in Ratanakiri stated that, “I think that private tutoring is good for my child, but I cannot afford to send him.” The stakes are high for attending private tutoring as the NEP October Report indicates that “those who cannot afford to pay for these extra classes often fail examinations and are required to repeat the grade” (26). Teachers explained cases where students must help their parents grow rice, sell goods in the market, or scavenge for things to sell. Some students were forced to migrate with their families for seasonal work in garment factories in Phnom Penh only to travel back to their home provinces for rice harvest season which led to interruptions in school attendance and private tutoring attendance. In the Cambodian case public school attendance and private tutoring attendance affect the progress of children through the school system. REMEDIAL TUTORING VS. SUPPLEMENTARY TUTORING

In some studies of private tutoring, the term “remedial tutoring” is used synonymously. To date a large-scale comparative study of shadow education in developing countries has not been conducted, and this type of study would be needed to characterize the purpose(s) of private tutoring. Baker and LeTendre (2005) have used data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study projects of 1994 and 1999 and written on the “worldwide growth of shadow education systems.” In relation to developing countries, Baker and LeTendre write, “underfunding and limited access to schooling…leads families and students to use shadow education as augmentation of subpar schooling” (Baker & LeTendre, 2005, p. 64). Baker and LeTendre characterize shadow education as 67

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remedial tutoring and posit that the shadow education system develops and expands in tandem with mass schooling and furthers progress and justice in societies. However, the findings of this study show that shadow education can precede learning in the formal system and contribute to inequity in educational opportunities and achievement. In a shadow education system which includes a “false head start” in schooling, it becomes very difficult to characterize shadow education as either remedial or supplementary. Bray characterizes shadow education as a service provided for high-performing students, a characterization which would contradict that of Baker and LeTendre (Bray, 1999, p. 42). One teacher in this study stated that, “students who study in private tutoring class are better and cleverer than students who do not.” However, several parents said that their children take private tutoring because they are weak students and need review of old material. One teacher referred to a need to “have more time to explain important lessons that students do not understand well.” In order to understand the purpose of private tutoring, the following question in Table 12 was asked of teachers in the teacher survey. Table 12. How often do you teach new material or old material from the public school textbooks in private tutoring? New Material Old Material

Very Often 23.8% 9.5%

Often 50.0% 42.9%

Sometimes 26.2% 40.5%

Never 0.0% 4.2%

The findings in Table 12 indicate that teachers are introducing new material more than they are reviewing old material from the textbooks. This would indicate that they are not covering all material in the public school curriculum during regular school hours. Previously the reasons for not being able to cover that material regarding time and teacher manipulation have been discussed. Whatever, the cause may be, it is clear that Cambodian students who cannot afford to attend private tutoring are being denied access to curriculum knowledge which inevitably leads to their inability to pass exams and reach higher levels of education. These findings are corroborated by the NEP October report: Students reported that the lessons covered in private tutoring were often a continuation of the public curriculum rather than supplementary. If students did not attend the private classes they would miss out on necessary parts of the state curriculum and often fall behind the rest of the class. Some of the focus of the private lessons is preparation for exams and students who cannot pay for private tutoring invariably do poorly on the exams and are often required to repeat the grade (16-17). Several scholars starting with Ronald Dore have decried the prevalence of the “diploma disease” and the requisite examinations in developing countries (Bray, 1999, p. 67). As a result many examinations have been eliminated in efforts to remove barriers to access and promote EFA. While increases in enrollments and

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promotions are lauded, the resultant effect on the quality of education is often not addressed. The promotion of EFA must be examined as it affects policy regarding shadow education, examinations, and quality of education in a country striving toward universal primary enrollment such as Cambodia. EFA, EXAMS, AND QUALITY OF EDUCATION

The practice of private tutoring is perceived as having a negative effect on attainment of EFA and quality of education. Examinations are seen as a barrier to access and represent, furthermore, an opportunity for widespread corruption in the form of bribing monitors and purchasing examinations and answer sheets. When the Minister of Education effected a crack-down on cheating in 1994 by posting guards at examination sites, only 4% of students passed the Grade 12 exam in comparison to a 70% passing rate for the previous year (International Herald Tribune, 1994). Such an episode compromises the validity of the examination system. Nonetheless, with the elimination of the Grade 6 exit examinations, teachers are concerned that automatic promotion will lead to a decrease in the quality of education. Their knowledge is still lower than students’ knowledge in the past. The elimination of the national exams for Grade 6 also affects the ability of the students. When they had the exam, they worked really hard to pass. (Teacher from Phnom Penh) The number of students who go to private tutoring has decreased since the elimination of the exam because they know that they must be promoted and because the MoEYS wants 100 percent of students in Grade 6 to be promoted to lower secondary schools. (Teacher from Phnom Penh) Levels of student achievement are difficult to measure and beyond the scope of this study; however, it is possible to discuss the current measures of quality of education as applied to EFA. The MoEYS Report of 2005 states that promotion rate is the only available measure of pupil achievement. However, the authors caution that, “The use of the promotion as an indicator of measure does not reflect the reality as school directors and teachers receive increasing pressure to reach the target of promotion rate as articulated in the recent educational policy reforms such as Education Strategic Plan and Education Sector Support Program” (MOEYS, 2005). In this study, one teacher in Phnom Penh referred to this pressure by saying, “If I fail a student, I will be asked to give the reason.” Separate from policies for promotion, there are encouraging signs of improvement in the quality of teaching. Other measures of quality show some degree of progress. Since 2001-02, the number of teachers without pedagogy training has been reduced significantly from 1,870 untrained teachers (2.6% of total) to 812 (1.0% of total) in 2005-06 (EC, 2006). However, even well-trained teachers would face difficulties with class sizes in Cambodia. Table 13 shows the average pupil-teacher ration in Cambodia in comparison to other countries in the Asian region (World Bank, 2008).

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Table 13. Regional teacher-student ratio

Cambodia China Indonesia Korea Lao PDR

Teacher-Student Ratio Primary 50.8 21.0 20.0 31.0 31.0

Secondary 31.7 19.0 14.0 18.0 26.0

Malaysia Mongolia Philippines Thailand Vietnam

19.0 31.0 35.0 21.0 25.0

18.0 22.0 37.0 25.0 26.0

Source: Cambodian data come from EMIS 2006; for all other countries, Edstats. Notes: Data for countries other than Cambodia are for the most recent year available, generally 2002 (World Bank, 2008, p. 60)

In the CSES 2004 study (cited in World Bank, 2008), the quality of teachers is not a major concern. When asked about the most serious problem for education, only 2% of respondents referred to the quality of teachers. Conversely, as the most frequent response, 27% of community members were concerned that “the living standard of teachers is too low.” As stated earlier, implementing dramatic salary increases is no easy task as teacher salaries are tied to the national civil service salary scheme. However, beyond economic factors, one must question whether the government has any incentive to raise civil service salaries. THE PETRIFIED PYRAMID OF POLITICAL CORRUPTION

The level of government corruption throughout the education sector in Cambodia must be considered as it contributes to the practice of private tutoring in Cambodia with further ramifications for the social reproduction of teachers and the socialization of students. Teacher salaries are determined by the government and low salaries keep teachers at the bottom of a bureaucratic hierarchy within which they must pay bribes to principals who in turn pay bribes to higher officials in the education bureacracy. The World Bank 2008 report shows that three out of every four teachers pay a “facilitation fee” (informal cash payment) to receive their salary. The average fee of this type is R3,500 or approximately 2% of their base salary. Despite this payoff to school directors, almost 58% of teachers report never receiving their salary in full (53). One teacher in this study also reported that teachers are forced to pay 1000 Riel to the school director every day, either from the fees they collect from students or from their own pockets. At the next level up in the bureacracy, about 70

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64% of school directors report having to pay a facilitation fee to the district education office (DEO) officials in return for the disbursement of PAP 2.1 funds (EIC, 2006). It is apparent that there is a “trickle-up” distribution of bribes starting with students and flowing all the way up to the district level, if not possibly higher levels of the government. In the USAID Cambodian Corruption Assessment, the “petrified” political system of government corruption is described as a “pyramid” within which “payments go up the system, generally becoming larger as they are passed to a few senior leaders” (USAID, 2004, p. 5). Teachers are forced to be complicit in this shadow economy of bureaucratic bribery which lowers their social status in society. An interesting aspect of this system manifests itself at the level of higher education and leads to the social reproduction of teachers. Several teachers in interviews expressed past dreams of becoming police officers, lawyers, and doctors. However, they stated that it was difficult to enter these professions because they did not have “the money to bribe other people” or “any high-ranking relatives or social networks.” One teacher stated that, “my family was poor and the teacher positions were easy to get.” Several teachers revealed that their parents and relatives were teachers and the low income status of their families prevented them from pursuing other careers. Nevertheless, the teachers expressed dedication to their roles as teachers in Cambodian society. We teachers are poor, but we still come to work and this is our willingness to give education to younger generations. Whether dedicated or complicit members of a corrupt system of education, teachers and parents raised the question of the effect that such a system has on the education of future generations. In doing so they echo the concerns of the Egyptian Minister of Education quoted at the beginning of this chapter. Students take part in a daily ritual of paying bribes to teachers from the age of 6 years old when they enter the primary school cycle in Cambodia. The NEP October report expressed community concerns about students learning from an early age that they must pay these bribes to have access to education. One parent expressed his consternation in saying, “how are we going to build a strong society on foundations like this?” (29). In the LPS report parents worry that such practices will lead students to become corrupt in the future (EIC, 2006). The web of corruption in the education sector in Cambodia is a social structure which is not easy to uproot after many years of inattention by national and international actors. Some research presents a more alarming trend in showing that despite efforts to eliminate bribery, the fees collected at the school level appear to actually be rising rather than falling (NEP, 2007a, p. 1). While the system of “informal school fees” was initially permitted as a temporary measure to meet shortfalls in school funding after the civil war, two decades later the system has become “commonplace” and accepted by all stakeholders in education (NEP, 2007b, p. 30). In such an environment, stakeholders and policymakers may have missed the “window of opportunity” for eliminating the practice before it became an institutionalized shadow economy of the Cambodian public school system.

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CONCLUSION

This study has attempted to situate private tutoring in the Cambodian public school system within the wider political context of the web of government corruption. In order to do that, it was necessary to problematize the characterization of the practice as “corruption” with consideration toward the grossly inadequate income of state teachers and the problems inherent with curriculum time, content, and teacher pedagogies in the system. Wider societal issues such as the market economy were included in the treatment as they affect the school and work lives of parents and teachers to explain the varied pressures which contribute to the practice. Dominant discourses on shadow education were also challenged in examining the failures of primary schooling in Cambodia to provide a coherent curriculum, a situation which defies defining private tutoring as either “remedial” or “supplementary.” A portrayal of the political web of corruption in the education system has been presented to explain the widespread political and economic origins of private tutoring and its role in sustaining an education system which stands on unsound foundations. Further research is necessary to understand this political system if national and international actors intend to commit themselves to systemic reform in order to move beyond quantitative targets and aim toward quality education for all children in this war-ravaged nation as it comes to terms with the Khmer Rouge genocide. A cruel irony of the Khmer Rouge period is that Pol Pot, and other early Khmer Rouge leaders who were state teachers, attracted followers to their cause because they were perceived to be above the petty corruption rampant in the Cambodian government (Ayres, 2000, p. 61). The tragedy which followed their ascendance to power is well documented and those historical memories and scars must not be forgotten in any efforts to reform the Cambodian political system as it moves toward further development and consolidation of democracy. The Cambodian people have expressed their desire for an end to corruption in the form of a petition to the government to enact an anti-corruption law with over one million signatures (1 out of every 14 Cambodians) presented on May 16, 2006 to the National Assembly (Hay, 2008). The task is thus left to the Cambodian government and the multilateral and bilateral agencies to promote development outside the shadow of government corruption. REFERENCES Ayres, D. M. (2000). Anatomy of a crisis: Education, development, and the state of Cambodia, 19531998. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. Baker, D. P., & LeTendre, G. K. (2005). National differences, Global similarities: World culture and the future of schooling. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Bray, M., & Bunly, S. (2005). Balancing the books: Household financing of basic education in Cambodia. Hong Kong: Comparative Education Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong. Bray, M. (1999). The shadow education system: private tutoring and its implications for planners. Paris: UNESCO, International Institute for Educational Planning. Cambodia National & Provincial Resources Data Bank (1998). Cambodia population statistics [online], Available: http://www.citypopulation.de/Cambodia.html.

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“THE TRICKS OF THE TEACHER” Cambodians set to extend Hun Sen’s rule. (2008, July 28). The Australian, p. 12. Chhinh, S. (2003). Satisfaction sources of Cambodian urban primary school teachers. Paper presented at the 2003 International Council on Education for Teaching/Australian Teacher Education Association Conference in Melbourne, Australia. Clayton, T. (2000). Education and the politics of language: Hegemony and pragmatism in Cambodia, 1979-1989. Hong Kong: Comparative Education Research Centre, University of Hong Kong Press. ‘Corruption’ curbs Cambodia cash (2006, May 29). BBC News. Available: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/ hi/business/5027168.stm. Development Weekly (2006). Ministry of education tells public not to bribe teachers. January 9, 2006. Duggan, S. J. (1996). Education, teacher training and prospects for economic recovery in Cambodia. Comparative Education, 32(3), 361-375. EC Technical Advisory Team (2006). Cambodia education sector performance analysis 2006 (Quinn, D., Lee, J., & Smith, D.) Luxembourg. Economic Institute of Cambodia (EIC) (2006). Local public services: Performance and unofficial fees (Deline, S., Chamroeun, H., Sethy, Y.) Phnom Penh. Hay, L. M. (2008). Cambodia: Where is Cambodia’s anti-corruption law? Asian Human Rights Commission. Available: http://www.ahrchk.net/ahrc-in-news/mainfile.php/2008ahrcinnews/2012/ Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport (MoEYS) (2005). Report of PAP 2005. Phnom Penh: Author. NGO Education Partnership (NEP) (February 2007a). The impact of informal school fees on family expenditures. Phnom Penh: Author. NGO Education Partnership (NEP). (October 2007b). The impact of informal school fees on family expenditure. Phnom Penh: Author. Steiner-Khamsi, G., & Stolpe, I. (2006). Educational import: Local encounters with global forces in Mongolia. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. To Rebuild Its Schools, Cambodia Targets Corruption. (1994, October 11). International Herald Tribune. Available: http://www.iht.com/articles/1994/10/11/camed.php USAID (2004). Cambodian corruption assessment (Calavan, M.M., Briquets, S. D., & O’Brien, J.). Washington, DC. World Bank (2005). Cambodia: Quality basic education for all (Ridao-Cano, C.). Washington, DC. World Bank (2008). Teaching in Cambodia (Benveniste, L., Marshall, J., & Araujo, M.C.). Washington, DC.

AFFILIATIONS

Walter Dawson College of Education Hanyang University Seoul

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DENNIS C. MCCORNAC

CORRUPTION IN VIETNAMESE HIGHER EDUCATION

INTRODUCTION

More than two decades have passed since Vietnam began the transition to a market economy. The policy of ‘Doi Moi,’ generally translated as economic renovation, has fostered major changes in its social and economic institutions and improved drastically production capabilities and the standard of living. These positive developments notwithstanding, Vietnam remains a less developed country and many of the ills associated with this environment have not been alleviated. Corruption still plagues most sectors of the economy, and in 2007, Transparency International gave Vietnam a dismal 2.6 rating score on scale of one to ten with ten being least corrupt. CORRUPTION IN EDUCATION

One area in which corruption is pervasive is education, particularly in how it relates to student and teacher behavior. Bribes for school entrance, exams, assessment, etc. are just a few examples of practices that exist in both secondary and higher education sectors. Although the issue has come under increased scrutiny by the state media and educational authorities, a review of the literature reveals very little formal research in the area of corruption in education. This can probably be attributed to the unwillingness of both parties to provide accounts of illegal transactions and the extent to which the practices are viewed as corrupt. RESEARCH METHOD

The collection of data through a formal survey instrument was not possible due to institutional constraints. Thus, informal surveys were conducted in various classes taught by the author during his teaching in Vietnam over the past decade. The sample size was approximately 150 first-year university level undergraduate students and 100 first-year university graduate students. In addition, in-depth interviews were carried out with close to 35 students at various levels, 13 teachers and 5 administrators. These in-depth interviews were conducted in a semistructured format with a heavy emphasis on open-ended questions. S.P. Heyneman (ed.), Buying Your Way into Heaven, 75-77. © 2009 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

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NORM, RATHER THAN EXCEPTION

The information from students, faculty and administrators provides clear indications that corruption in higher education in Vietnam is both rampant and institutional. Corruptive practices are the norm rather than the exception and foster an environment of distrust and suspicion on the part of those forced to participate in this system. In the informal survey of classes more than 95 percent of the students reported they had cheated at least once in a class and all had observed situations of cheating by other students. Cheating is looked at as being so common that many are of the opinion that to not to do so puts oneself at a disadvantage. Social and peer pressure play a significant role in the decision to cheat and cheating is looked at as a necessary component of the educational experience. Both students and faculty also commented that cheating is “just part of Vietnamese culture.” TEACHERS AND EXAMINATIONS

In various interviews, stories were told of corrupt practices by teachers, particularly during testing. During an examination, for example, a woman (not the supervising teacher) appeared in class and instructed the supervisor to allow one of the students to leave the examination. When the student returned he had in his possession a piece of paper, apparently given to him by the women, containing answers to the test. The answers were also provided to other students while the supervising teachers did nothing to stop the practice. The student who reported the story, however, stated “I felt very disappointed because I worked very hard studying for the exam, while those who did nothing and cheated received higher marks.” Faculty members admitted they were lax in carrying out procedures such as careful proctoring of examinations. Institutions either lacked strict policies to deal with these matters or there was a general consensus that nothing should be done. Stroll down the corridor of a Vietnamese university and it not uncommon to observe students openly talking, using cheat sheets and blatantly copying during tests. THE USE OF BRIBES

Given the low salary level of educators in Vietnam, it is often necessary for professors to engage in corrupt practices. Almost all of the faculty and administrators interviewed admitted receiving payments to give higher grades or to either assist or guarantee a student admission to a university. A typical example was told by one individual whose good friend passed the university entrance despite being a poor performing student who never studied. The poor performing student later confessed that the headmaster of the university accepted a 100 million dong (US$6200) payment from the student’s father to guarantee his admission. A number of students reported on the activities that occur on Teacher’s Day, a public holiday celebrated in November each year. The general practice is for 76

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students to go to a teacher’s house and give gifts of flowers. However, it has now become more common for the teacher to receive expensive gifts such as cell phones, designer bags, etc. with the expectation of higher exam grades and other favors in return. The growing economy has only exacerbated the situation as competition for employment opportunities among students has increased and faculty members have a greater need to supplement their income. CONCLUSION

There is no doubt that the Vietnamese higher education system is in need of serious reform. Corruption is epidemic, and actions must be taken to change the environment in which these practices flourish. The recent decision by the Ministry of Education and Training to adopt new, stricter measures on national exams and the increased media attention on corruption are steps in the right direction. The slogan for the educational reform campaign is “say no to cheating in examinations and achievement chasing in education.” Nevertheless, there is not only a general frustration on all sides with the status quo, but also certain helplessness that the current situation cannot be changed. If Vietnam desires to obtain an international standard educational system, required reforms are necessary from all parties. Perhaps, most importantly, there must be a monumental change in the attitude and thinking by students, faculty and parents. Education is a right and privilege that is earned, not a commodity to be sold by administrators and faculty. AFFILIATION

Dennis C. McCornac Department of Economics Anne Arundel Community College Arnold, Maryland, USA

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STEPHEN P. HEYNEMAN

MORAL STANDARDS AND THE PROFESSOR: A STUDY OF FACULTY AT UNIVERSITIES IN GEORGIA, KAZAKHSTAN AND KYRGYZSTAN

INTRODUCTION

Universities may contribute to a nation’s social cohesion through both direct and indirect means. In their syllabi they may include techniques necessary for understanding complex social problems. Faculty may model good behaviour in terms of listening and understanding points of view which may contradict their own. University administrators may illustrate ways to lead honourably which can enhance the chances for achieving consensus with respect to future dilemmas. This project assessed typical areas of university tension, including academic freedom, equity of participation and academic honesty. Three different universities were chosen as sites for faculty interviews – a foreign private university in Kyrgyzstan, a flagship state university in Georgia, and a regional teacher training college recently upgraded to university status in North-East Kazakhstan. Results suggest that the single most important arena for universities to influence social cohesion in these countries is the manner by which they address education corruption. The paper reproduces the statements of those faculty who participate in corruption as well as those who refuse to participate. It concludes with some predictions about the future of the relationship of higher education to social cohesion. HIGHER EDUCATION AND SOCIAL COHESION

It is axiomatic to think of higher education as a social good, with many of its benefits and costs affecting the public at large. But what specific effect higher education may have, and how those effects can be defined, measured and calculated, has been a subject of long debate. With the emergence of many ‘new’ nations in the 1960s, the debate tended to centre on issues of nation-building, including the general educational role of broadening outlook and increasing tolerance and the desire to participate in the political process (Lipset, 1959); the connection between education and democratic stability (Almond & Verba, 1963; Puryear, 1994); and the degree to which education was associated with greater voluntary political participation (Gintis, 1971; Verba, Nie, & Kim, 1978). Higher S.P. Heyneman (ed.), Buying Your Way into Heaven, 79–108. © 2009 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

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education specifically was thought to add to a nation’s technical manpower, its ability to participate in political and economic debate, and, at the highest level, its ability to generate new knowledge (Harbison & Meyers, 1964). I have been involved in many of these debates over the last 25 years as a contributor to education policy at the World Bank and the Comparative and International Education research community. Most of the demand for my work has centered on issues of human capital development and the nature of the economics of higher education. However, after two decades of working on these issues I began to be frustrated with their assumptions and impact. I began to feel that little of what we produced seemed to be compelling to policy makers. As a result, in the late 1990s I began to explore the nature of higher education as it relates to social, instead of economic, objectives (Heyneman, 1995, 1997a, 1997b, 1997c, 1998, 2000a, 2000b, 2003c). With increasing experience in different parts of the former Soviet Union, I was concerned about the drift of higher education into what is now thought of as ‘corrupt’ practices. My work has helped to define education corruption in general terms (Heyneman, 2001, 2003b, 2004a, 2004b), to think up ways to research the problem (Heyneman, 2002/3), manage it (Moiseyenko, 2004), calculate its costs (Heyneman, Anderson, & Nuraliyeva, 2006), and manage interventions intending to ameliorate its more problematic effects (Heyneman, 2003a, 2004c). The larger question however has to do, not just with corruption, but with the wider set of mechanisms by which higher education might affect a community’s social cohesion. There has been quite a lot of recent inquiry pertaining to this role of higher education. Desjardins (2001) argues that economic well being depends on informal and non-formal as well as formal learning through educational organizations. The OECD has suggested that the well being of nations depends on the efficiency by which they utilize both human capital (knowledge and skills) with social capital (cross-cutting networks of social relations) (OECD, 2001). After having to retract its earlier recommendation that public finance be shifted from higher, to primary education (Psacharopoulos, Tan, & Jiminez, 1986; World Bank 1994, 1995), the World Bank has directed its focus onto the non-monetary contributions of higher education to economic and social development (World Bank, 2000, 2001; Task Force on Higher Education and Society, 2004). If one can accept social cohesion as an indicator of social performance (such as a nation like South Africa or Ukraine which emerges from a threat of civil war without bloodshed; Heyneman, 2002/3), then the question is how might this indicator be affected by various organizations?1 The question falls within the purview of institutional economics – the study of how laws, norms and administrative policies affect behaviour (Scott, 2001; Powell & DiMaggio, 1991; North, 1990; Putnam, 1993; Olsen, 1965, 1982; Durkheim, 1997; Mansbridge, 1989), and educational institutions play a uniquely important role (Puryear, 1994; Hyman & Wright, 1979; Dreeben, 1967; Inkeles & Smith, 1974; Feinberg, 2004), –––––––––––––– 1 There are four categories of organizations which might affect social cohesion: profit-making organizations, non-for-profit voluntary organizations, governmental organizations; and schools and universities (Heyneman, 2004c).

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especially higher education institutions (Ehrlich, 2000; Gutmann, 1987; Moiseyenko, 2004). The process by which norms might affect behaviour is a topic of some importance. Coleman pointed out that the degree to which norms are manifest can radically affect a society’s economic opportunity (Coleman, 1987, 1988), and that a society’s human capital must be thought of as including its social capital as well. While there are distinctions to be made between social control and social cohesion (Berfer, 1999), the general consensus might be that a nation or a community characterized by social cohesion (one of political tolerance, inter-ethnic peace, and effective governance) is socially good. Moreover if one conceives of social cohesion as a community characterized by an adherence to social norms in an autonomous manner, it would reduce the confusion between social and totalitarian cohesion. For instance, the sense of inter-ethnic community achieved in the former Yugoslavia might be characterized as tolerance through social control, not social cohesion. Had the former Yugoslavia been characterized by greater social cohesion, it might have avoided the civil conflict and ethnic cleansing which characterized its disintegration. For the purpose of this project, social cohesion draws heavily on the precedents set in the Indian Sub-Continent in which tolerance was defined and re-enforced through the edicts of Ashoka several centuries before the birth of Christ2 and explored extensively by modern economists interested in the social requirements of economic development (Sen, 2005, 2006). Generally, these requirements can be reduced to the instillation of respect for dissent and difference and a sense of responsibility of the dissenter to respect the rights of the majority. In some ways perhaps Sen’s notion of the ideal is parallel to recent analyses of the U.S. (Colatrella & Alkana 1994; Ravitch, 2003) in which dissent is considered an integral and normal part of discourse in any ‘mature’ nation. The manufacturing and management of the protocols for dissent has been a traditional role for universities since their origin in the 12th century. Born out of a merger between guilds in law, medicine and theology, the university flourished once it incorporated the lessons taught by Socrates in the dialogues of Plato. These lessons call for faculty to pose appropriate questions in the pursuit of truth, and base their responses reason and other evidence. In comparison to acceptance of answers only given by God and through the Pope, the university’s role was revolutionary (Perkin, 1984). The Socratic commitment to Platoian principles purse truth through questioning and to base conclusions on the outcomes of inquiry form the basis of the work undertaken on behalf of this project. While it is not appropriate to assume that universities have identical roles and functions in different parts of the world, it is appropriate to suggest that universities hold some essential common functions. To –––––––––––––– 2 Two of the Edits of Ashoka: the king wishes that all religious sects in his dominions should live in peace and amity and stresses self-control and purity of mind. The growth of Dhamma (moral and social order of conduct) is by restraint of speech which means no praise of one’s own faith or disparagement of another (source: stone tablets kept at the National Museum in New Delhi).

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be legitimate, universities should have the right to ask whatever question is necessary to understand truth, and to base the answers on the outcome of inquiry. Higher education was deeply controlled and vocationalized under the Soviet Union. In the transition period, it was uncertain how well universities in the newly emerging states could regain and adhere to these traditional university functions. And given the manifest pressures for ethnic resurgence, it was also unclear whether universities could fulfil their role to teach the necessary ingredients of tolerance for contradictory views and discipline in open discourse. The task of forging social cohesion today diverges from how nation-building might have been conceived in an earlier era. In the 1960s the major focus was on how graduates conducted themselves. Today the focus includes how universities, as organizations, conduct themselves. It includes their participation in what might be thought of as an international standard for economic and political behaviour (including social inclusion of minorities and gender equity among students and faculty), transparency of budgeting and governance, tolerance in academic endeavours, and the direct teaching of the lessons of citizenship in what is often a tense and unsettled social setting. Universities are expected to maintain their sense of professional autonomy, but with the passing of the party/states in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, state ideological dominance is no longer acceptable. This left universities to fend for themselves professionally and to establish their own standards of integrity. This project asks how universities are doing so far. In what ways have universities in the former Soviet Union been successful at establishing their own standards of integrity? Are the perceptions of this success shared equally among faculty and students? Equally across disciplines and schools? And perhaps more importantly, given the considerable pressures for economic survival, how have universities maintained their traditional standards of equality and fairness in their treatment of students and faculty? The three university sites were not chosen because the institutions necessarily represent the country in which they were situated but rather because each site represents a different category, with different university purposes, traditions, and challenges. One university was a foreign-supported private liberal arts college; a second was the national flagship public university; and the third was a regional pedagogical college recently converted to a university. With the assistance of the university administration, email messages were sent to faculty, students and administrators asking for volunteers for an hour-long interview with them. The individuals interviewed volunteered to participate and were not randomly selected. With administrators, the interview protocols emphasized the macro issues of academic freedom, language of instruction, professional conduct, and equity of representation. With faculty more emphasis was placed on issues of pedagogy, history, civics and academic honesty. With students emphasis was placed on how each of the eight issues affected them directly. Unless English was their preferred language, an interpreter was present. The interpreter signed a confidentiality agreement, and this agreement was shown to the respondent. Interviews took place in a private office or empty classroom. If the respondent gave permission, the interviews were audio- recorded. This project 82

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was participatory in its nature, and I had no hesitation to declare myself a ‘friend’ to higher education and universities generally. Kyrgyzstan I was invited by the Rector of the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) to interview anyone I wished. I requested that an email be sent by the vice president for international affairs inviting any student or faculty member to have an interview with me. Twenty one volunteered. These consisted of 15 faculty and students and 6 administrators. The AUCA was chosen as a site because it is a local university (accredited in Kyrgyzstan but not in the US), with a high internal international influence. AUCA is financed largely by grants from the U. S. government and the Open Society Institute (The Soros Foundation). Its 1,187 students (499 men and 688 women) come from 16 countries. 40% of the classes are conducted in English by the 227 part and full-time faculty. The ratio of student to FTE is about 10:1. The university portrays itself as a liberal arts college with a wide ranging curriculum and, contrary to local higher education tradition, significant breadth requirements to as to avoid the over-specialization common in the former Soviet Union. AUCA’s description of itself in an advertising brochure is given below: We are American in our love of critical thinking, our dedication to the breadth of subject matter and approaches to knowledge, and our commitment to the individual learning experience of every student. We are Central Asian in our profound appreciation of the fascinating cultural crossroads where our students learn and where many will dedicate their lives to critical social change. We are Russian in that we provide many courses in Russian, treasure the study of foreign languages, and value rigorous, disciplined learning. Interviews were conducted in a room on campus but isolated from all other activity. With one exception, interpretation was not necessary. Because these interviews were the first, effort was made to cover all eight proposed topics: (i) on how Kyrgyz history should be taught; (ii) which languages of instruction should be allowed; (iii) what areas of civics and leadership responsibilities the university should undertake; (iv) whether there was a required pedagogy; (v) how the university should lead in the higher education community; (vi) the equality of representation (of ethnic minorities and from low income families) among students and faculty; (vii) the degree of academic honest demonstrated by the faculty and the administration; and (viii) the degree to which the university supported academic freedom. Although these topics were raised in each site, it became obvious that some issues were of critical relevance and others were not. Over time, more emphasis was placed on the former. Georgia In Georgia, the chosen university was its flagship academic institution, Tbilisi State University (TSU). Founded before the Russian Revolution the university used 83

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Georgian (a rare exception in the former Soviet Union) as the medium of instruction since the beginning. It has produced many important scholars and research institutes. The university today has over 35,000 students and 3,275, faculty including 55 academicians. During the period of my stay, TSU was in the midst of a major shake up. For reasons of inefficiency, the university had been ordered by the government to undertake a restructuring roughly equivalent to a private corporation. It reduced the number of faculties from 22 to eight and requested that all 3,275 faculty members resign their positions and reapply as candidates to a far smaller university structure and more modern university curriculum. Interviews were conducted in a small private room on the main campus. In about 25% of the cases, interviews were conducted in English. In the other cases, interviews were conducted in Georgian. The respondent was invited to choose the language in which h/she felt most comfortable. In addition to the eight prescribed topics, new issues arose concerning the administrative reforms and the general direction of higher education more generally. In addition, interviews were conducted with the rectors of three other universities, a member of parliament, and several senior education administrators in government. Kazakhstan The site in Kazakhstan was East Kazakhstan State University (EKSU), located in Ust Kamenogorsk, a small industrial town in the north east of the country, far from the capital and the nation’s largest city. Before 1991, EKSU had been an institute for teacher training, and not one of the more prestigious institutions. Since many of the faculty received their degrees where they now teach, the institution is heavily influenced by its earlier purposes. EKSU has about 10,000 students studying 60 specializations. There are about 700 faculty members. The average student: faculty ratio of 14:1 hides the fact that the demand for many specializations is low, yet faculty remain permanently in their positions. The university has had 3 rectors in the last three years.3 The new rector has not yet established his reputation,4 and there was considerable nervousness about the possible directions he might favour. Interviews with faculty and students were conducted in an empty classroom, and interviews with seven others were conducted in offices elsewhere. With rare exception all interviews were conducted with the assistance of an English/Russian interpreter. Respondents were chosen by the deans of the colleges. I was concerned about the degree of representation, but there was no apparent effect on age, seniority, gender or opinion of the respondents whom I interviewed. They appeared to represent a broad cross-section of the faculty, and when I asked for more junior faculty and more students, my request was quickly carried out. In addition to EKSU, interviews were conducted at a local private university.

–––––––––––––– 3 Rectors are not elected by the faculty, but appointed by the government and moved regularly. 4 In fact we joked that I should show him around the university since, after four visits to Ust Kamenogorsk, I might know more about where things were than he did.

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Interviews and Their Locations Number American Univ. of C. Asia Tbilisi State University Others in Georgia East Kaz. State University Others in Kazakhstan Total

24 41 13 29 4 ___________ 111

Interview Results: The Teaching of History All 15 republics from the former Soviet Union are ‘ethnically based’ in that each takes its name from an ethnic group (The Russian Federation, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Latvia are all nations named for a local ethnicity.)5 Hence, each has to balance a natural tendency to establish national pride in historical accomplishments of that ethnic group with the fact that many citizens of their country have other ethnic identities. In some instances, such as in Georgia, there is long precedent for this process. In Central Asia however the ethnic groups have less experience managing an education system and are only now beginning to sort out the question of their relationship with respect to other citizens of their country who are not of their ethnic background. As might be expected, there is political pressure to re-instil a sense of honour from times past for their particular ethnic group. On the other hand, it is widely recognized that there needs to be a sense of fairness to all citizens in the presentation of the nation’s history.6 In all three countries new requirements had been put into place for the teaching of national history. One had to pass a test designed by the Ministry of Education to obtain a degree from either public or private universities in Kyrgyzstan. The governments of both Georgia and Kazakhstan had also placed new requirements to study national history as a course requirement. I was curious as to how faculty and administrators might view these requirements. If they felt that there was undue emphasis on ethnic identity, what might they think a university should do about it? In essence I was asking two kinds of questions: whether the Ministry requirements represented a ‘professional’ view of history; and if not, what the role of the university should be in teaching history ‘properly’. Thus my questions pertained to how universities balance these two, sometimes conflicting, points of view. –––––––––––––– 5 In regional languages the common term is ‘nationality’. I choose to use the term ‘ethnicity’ so as to not confuse group membership with national citizenship. 6 The difference can be expressed with specific terminology: ‘Kazakh’ pertains to the ethnic group; ‘Kazakhstani’ pertains to all citizens in the territory of Kazakhstan.

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Inter-disciplinary associations are rare; hence many faculty in departments other than history had little idea of the new history requirements. Many found the question uncomfortable because they ‘were not a specialist in history’. This represents ‘vertical association’ common in all three universities where knowledge and concern is limited to one’s own department, and concerns for the organization more generally were of lower priority. When assured that what I wanted was their ‘personal opinion’, most respondents opened up and some became quite animated about the subject. A few respondents spoke in favour of having national history be the same as the history of the dominant ethnic group. One said: I am in favour of having the history of Kazakhstan be a history of the Kazakh people. It is the same in Russia. If I were a Russian citizen living in Russia, I wouldn’t want Russian history to include a history of the Kazakh people, so why should a Russian here in Kazakhstan complain about having to learn about the history of the Kazakh people? (65: 22) And some praised the opportunity to learn new things about their local ethnic group. One student in Kyrgyzstan noted that she had never had the opportunity to learn about Manas (an historical epic poem of the Kyrgyz) and mentioned that the principles derived from the study of Manas were universal. It is like reading Plato text, one does it not to privilege Greek culture, but because the theories and logical principles aspire to universal relevance. But agreeing with an ethnically exclusive view of history was rare. Most respondents emphasized the long interaction in their territory across groups and the extensive sharing of cultural traditions, poems, laws, and governments. Said one faculty member at Tbilisi State, Our whole history is one of mixture. Our nationalism is multicultural. One of our first queens was a Jew. We have been interacting with Turks, Russians, Armenians, Jews, and Azeris for centuries. We have no need of ‘defensive nationalism’ (in which a nation needs to defend its honour by preaching a jingoist view of its history). (17: p. 44) Another Georgian reiterated this: Our history is regional history. Georgian history has no enemies in that our culture has been determined by the culture of our former enemies from whom we have learned. (21: p. 52) Many expressed dismay at the crude governmental efforts to cobble together an ethnic history largely from oral accounts. Also present was a tone of professional outrage at the attempt to use history to support state-sponsored ideology. There has been of course ample precedent in the Soviet Union, and the sad history of these ideological efforts was frequently raised along with a call to make history professional. The history of Kazakhstan should not be taught in the way it is now. It is being taught by amateurs, and they interpret facts poorly (meaning narrowly?). My grandfather escaped from this country under Stalin and fled 86

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to China. These facts about the Soviet Union are not being taught. The historians today make the same mistakes as the historians under the Soviets. They leave out anything that would be uncomfortable about the past, things which would be uncomfortable about themselves. One cannot teach history as if one group had lived in a vacuum. We need to change the teachers. The teachers today are the same ones that taught history of the Communist Party. We need to have real historians, professionals who do real research in their subject. (73:18) Because history under the Soviets had been so corrupted and was now widely recognized as such, once inhibitions had been overcome from ‘not being a specialist’, the topic of how to teach history was of considerable interest. One informant said: I learned that there was a Han from China who came to this part of the world and who fought the Russians. The Han retreated, but he retreated westward, not eastward. I always wondered, why he would retreat west instead of east. The history taught me was to consider east as east and west as west; that they were totally different. But here was a Han who retreated to where he felt safe, and he went west. That reminds me that history cannot be divided into neat small generalized categories such as east and west. It reminds me that we are all products of many influences. I see a lot of facts which are worrisome. The Russians used to teach us that all Kazakhs were nomads and that there was no agriculture here prior to Russian contact. But that was not true. There was agriculture here. Perhaps only 10% of the population practiced agriculture, but it was an important to know that fact. When I see these facts (omitted) I feel hurt inside because history is not presented in a fair way. (73: 18) But what should a university do if it is felt that the history required from the Ministry of Education was unprofessional and biased? Here responses represented a wide range. Many felt that a university could do nothing because it ‘belongs’ to the state, and all faculty have the responsibility to carry out state policy. But many others said that the university had a ‘duty to resist’ on a topic on which its professional integrity was at stake. Said one faculty member at EKSU: If the university is told by the Ministry to teach a course which was unprofessional, it should resist. The university needs to look at a global set of traditions and sources of knowledge, not just local ones. (65: 8) The key was how a university should resist. No one argued for demonstrations or strikes or public protests of any kind. Subtle methods were preferred. These included university-based request for students to take an additional course in which a nation’s history could be more balanced, to the assignment of books and readings which might present a more balanced and ‘professional view’. But would resistance to unprofessional requirements from a government be successful? One professor at EKSU replied by restating a proverb: the dog barks, but the caravan keeps on moving. (71: 17) 87

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LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION

All 15 nations have had to choose among alternative languages. Many chose a national language separate from the traditional international language (Russian), and have taken different approaches with respect to the use of non-traditional international languages (English, French and German). In some countries (Latvia, Georgia) the choice has not posed a significant dilemma because the local language was utilized prior to the imposition of Russian under the USSR; to return to the local language poses less academic cost. But in other instances (Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Turkmen) the choice poses a significant dilemma. There is no precedent for using those languages in universities. Teaching science, mathematics and other university subjects requires depth in an existing literature and fluency with technology which cannot be created artificially. The questions about which language should be used as the medium of university instruction were meant to explore the degree to which faculty opinions, based on academic assessment, diverged from national policy. In general, opinions were quite consistent with national policies. In both Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, national language policies were being applied but in a rather pragmatic manner. Russian remains in full use for reasons of availability in materials and because of long academic traditions. The national languages are considered a welcome novelty. Students who graduate in Kazakh-only cohorts are limited to the humanities and have yet to establish a significant employment record. It remains to be seen if Kazakh-only cohorts will be utilized in labour markets not dominated by state industries. Unlike Georgian where English is widely learned in addition, the Kazakh-only academic streams will likely be confined to local employment. Comments from respondents to this question on language surprisingly had less to do with the use of local languages, and more to do with alternative international languages beyond Russian. At AUCA a common complaint was the insufficiency of courses taught in English. Students worried that too many courses were taught in Russian, and that the reading materials were often out-dated, poorly translated, and insufficient. Kazakhstan has outlined a policy of ‘trilingualism’ in which universities might use three languages (Russian, Kazakh and English). This was generally supported by a wide variety of faculty. It was pointed out, however, that the absence of sufficient English faculty made the trilingual policy ‘empty words’. In Georgia, Russian was rarely used in the university, but English language programs were opening rapidly. This generated some concern that Georgian traditions were being supplanted. Some felt that English should be confined to classes in foreign language (i.e. not used as a medium of instruction). Others felt the opposite, that more degrees should be opened with English as the medium of instruction based on evidence of student demand and the availability of more materials than Georgian. The faculty who worried about the replacement of Georgian also worried about the ‘commercialization’ of the university and its academic legacy.

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CIVICS, CITIZENSHIP AND MORAL VALUES

Universities make decisions on what to omit and what to include, on how to balance content; on what lessons to make explicit, and what lessons to teach indirectly. I asked about which principles are emphasized and why. It was widely recognized that the principles (ideology) of the Soviet Union were generally reprehensible and should have been quickly replaced.7 But it was also widely acknowledged that there was no consensus on what to replace it with, and often there were concerns about the nihilism of the current student generation. One faculty member at EKSU said: For many years we lived under the ideology of the USSR. When the country fell apart there was nothing to replace it. Young people today fill that emptiness with what they call ‘values’. But I don’t call them values. The students have a consumer mentality, even in their relations with each other. (75: 21) The issue of how to influence values is especially complex in a foreign university. One administrator in AUCA remarked that … we have to teach the real facts about local history, ones which are proved by different international sources. It should be left up to the student to interpret and draw their own conclusions. One can’t force pride in a country. One can’t build a democracy by force. The (national) goals are fine, but there has to be a transparent mechanism to merit those goals. We should make patience and tolerance among the goals of our society. We are a private university and can build our own history curriculum, but we should be very careful not to disturb. (1: p. 29) The effect on universities of the Soviet Union was not unidirectional. On the one hand there was a significant effort to vocationalize the purposes of higher education; to reduce them to the ‘practical’. On the other hand, many faculty, particularly the older ones, viewed higher education as having broader purposes. One faculty member at EKSU, with long experience, remarked that the university has two jobs. One is to teach skills. The other is to set an example. If you follow the history of universities you will see that they are in the centre of control. They are supposed to be an inspiration to youth, to give them skills but to also give them traditions (Tape 55: 8). Another faculty member at EKSU remarked: we should return to universal values. Patriotism. Respect for each other. Everybody must be honest in what they do. If honest, one may sleep well at night and not be afraid of new ideas. A good name is more important than anything else. But it can be easily lost. One has to strive to keep a good name. There must be a certain moral obligation, and a certain barrier (limit) over –––––––––––––– 7 The exception: the principle of equality of opportunity.

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which a faculty member cannot cross. Patriotism is being manipulated. Often chauvinistic values are hidden within the language of patriotism. To me, patriotism means treating all people equally. It means respect for all nationalities. It means an equality of opportunity in life. It means that everyone is proud of this land. Russians. Kazakhs. Everyone. Patriotism is a matter of moral honour over and above family and friends. (75: 38) In what way should a university influence values? Should it have a specific course on ethics? Many argued that would be too blunt as an approach. One EKSU faculty member said that students should learn professional integrity by the way we teach. Universities are the centre of spiritual maturity and integrity. A university is a place where parents and students can meet achievements in science and the arts. Universities must accumulate the best practices and then teach them. The message of the university is humanistic. And the main purpose of the university is not to transfer knowledge; it is the upbringing of youth. (75: 15) Should a university enforce values? Some faculty said yes, but in a way which proves effective. There was no sympathy for installing sanctions and punishments. But there was quite a lot of interest in ‘effective encouragement’. Braxton and Bayer (1999) argue that there is an informal code of conduct which pertains to university teaching and that the code constrains the principle on which a faculty member does not abuse his authority over students. Of the three universities, only the AUCA had the equivalent of a written code of conduct. Nevertheless, despite the absence of an explicit code at TSU and at EKSU, many norms pertained parallel to those outlined by Braxton and Bayer. For instance, one full professor, female expressed her discomfort with how young female students dress. She said: Some of our students come (inappropriately) underdressed. I feel offended. I ask the girl students to remain behind. I explain to them how I feel. I tell them that they may dress any way they want if they are in the city, but if they are in the classroom they should respect me. Am I abusing my power when I do this? I ask the girls and they said no. They said you are right. And I am happy that they understood. They did not know how to dress because no one told them before. Other teachers did not seem to mind, or notice. Unfortunately, by the time I get them they are in the fourth year. It is sad that they were not told in their first year. (75: 17) It is apparent that this faculty member, when confronting female students about their (inappropriate dress) did not stir up resistance or resentment because her approach did not state the rules; nor did it criticize their choices or their character. Rather she took the responsibility on herself by saying – this is my classroom, and

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when you come please respect my feelings. Please dress more appropriately. And then she asked them if whether that was, in their view, an abuse of her authority.8 In re-stating the principle, one faculty member remarked: A faculty member must never intimidate people, especially those who are dependent on you. Whenever I talk to students, I always use the respectful form of Russian. When I talk to them about things which bother me, or which worry me, I am especially polite. This is particularly true with young boys. If you intimidate young boys they will not grow up to be strong and confident men. (75: 19) PEDAGOGY

The natural purposes of higher education include the ability to think for oneself and mature participation in public discussions. In the past these were not supported by the style of teaching and learning. The reputation of pedagogy under the Soviet’s was stern in style, with lectures and note taking dominant. Recognizing that this may reinforce supplication rather than autonomy, many efforts, financed often by external development assistance agencies, have been made to ‘modernize’ teaching style in how of instilling independence in thought. How are these new pedagogical styles viewed? To what extent have they taken hold? And to what extend have they become faculty requirements? Is the principle of critical thinking so important that it should become a criterion for continued faculty employment? Today recognition of different teaching styles is universal. One summarized the background in this way: To have liberal values one must have an independence of thought. In the previous regime we had a good education but the philosophy was of the workers, not the decision-makers. We could analyse very well but we could not decide things well because decisions were made at a much higher level. …We must teach the new generation the skill to analyse policies so they can find solutions independently. In my youth we memorized very well everything but were not asked our opinions. It brings me great pleasure when my students argue with me because (by surviving the previous regime) I gave them this opportunity to develop their skills in this way. (35: 20) Some faculty were convinced that one style constitutes a more modern approach and should be reinforced by administrative regulation. Said one: Older faculty are poor teachers. Students complain. We give them only minimum raises and a chance to learn critical thinking pedagogy. (75: p. 5) There was, on the other hand, some sympathy for their predicament. They are old and set in their ways. They are asked to change their style. But if they cannot –––––––––––––– 8 Quite by coincidence to this interview, a new sign was placed by the university administration in the hallway by the front entrance. The sign read: Dear Students: welcome to the temple of science and learning. Please dress appropriately.

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change, should their employment be terminated? In some cases the answer was yes, on condition that they had received the opportunity to be retrained and if students boycotted their lectures. In general, including at AUCA, there was little sympathy for terminating a faculty member’s employment. As a concept, employment termination is still new in Central Asia. It is more associated with cruelty on the part of the employer than with responsiveness to the needs of the client. On the other hand, some faculty suggested that a variety of styles (including the ‘old Soviet style’) was preferred pedagogical policy. Many had been trained by faculty members whose style of communication was rigid, but who were eminent in their fields and considered giants intellectually. Some argued that students should be exposed to both styles. One or two even remarked that the new critical thinking pedagogical style, particularly from those trained by the Soros Foundation, was by nature weak, and based more on emotion than content. UNIVERSITY RELATIONS WITH THE COMMUNITY

Universities are expected to be more transparent with respect to their operations, and provide a social presence to the general public. With many American universities, the relationship with the local community is a long-standing tradition and considered essential. Some scholars have even argued that the economic spill over effects have been heavily influenced by the interdependency between the university and the local community (Bowman, 1962). Now that universities in Central Asia are operating in a market environment, the question is how seriously do the faculty take this new responsibility in community relations? Do they see it as an opportunity or a burden? Is it treated as a ‘foreign’ idea, or as an important part of its modern function? In any ranking of university and faculty challenges by perceived importance, relations with the local community would be last. Few faculty had given thought to the issue. There were however, some exceptions. AUCA faculty and students had taken the lead in sponsoring an inter-university exposure of educational corruption. They did it by sponsoring a mock trial in which professors ‘accused of corruption’ were in a docket. There were prosecuting attorneys, defence lawyers, a judge, and an audience of students from many universities, all of whom seem thrilled to participate. When asked about the event, one faculty member mentioned that it was a way in which AUCA could help ‘lead’ other universities to see a problem but not in a way which would appear egocentric. EKSU was sponsoring night programs in certain fields, and these were suggested to me as being for the community. They were, however, fee-based, and they appeared to be as much a means of diversifying income sources as for the benefit of the community. In essence, the understanding that a university prospers when supported by the public is in its infancy.

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EQUITY OF REPRESENTATION AMONG STUDENTS AND FACULTY

Soviet philosophy laid a heavy emphasis on equal opportunity beginning first with the offspring of the proletariat, but also for women and national minorities.9 In fact, Soviet universities were well advanced with respect to gender equity, but not necessarily advanced with respect to social equity where the proportion of students from working class backgrounds was lower than in the west (Heyneman, 1997c, 1998). Nevertheless, with today’s demand that universities operate in an open democracy, standards for inclusion may have become more explicit. Were there surveys available to demonstrate the equity of participation? I was interested in to what extent demands for ethnic and economic equity have materialized? I was particularly interested in whether Kazakh or Kyrgyz felt under-represented by comparison to Russian-speaking citizens; and in the case of Georgia whether the representation of Azeris, Abkhazians, Turks, Armenians were perceived to be a problem? I asked to what extent is equity seen as a problem which requires educational policy intervention. If minorities were seen as underrepresented, what do faculty think should be done about it? In short the answer was nothing. Equity ranks close to community relations as being low in priority in terms of a problem. Moreover there was general ignorance about the topic. No one seemed to understand the distinction between equal opportunity and equal results. Since minorities were in theory free to compete for entry, the problem was perceived as having been solved. That said, it is also fair to say that some respondents had strong opinions about the mixture of groups in the university. One faculty member at EKSU said I was once asked how many Kazakhs I have in my department. I was confused and couldn’t answer. It never occurred to me who was Kazakh and who was not. My parents came here before WWII. I am Kazakh. We are one nation. There are some Russians who emigrated. I can’t understand this. This is my home. Perhaps my generation looks on things differently. We have suffered so much together. Famine. Poverty. War. Some of my best friends are Kazakh. I just don’t make a distinction. I give them respect and I expect respect in return. (6: 8) The gini coefficient has been widely used in North American and European sociology to calibrate over or under-representation, and was initiated by C. Arnold Anderson in his survey of student class background at Oxford in the early 1950s (Anderson, 1952, 1956, 1975). Since that time the concept has spread in terms of analysis and debate to India, Brazil and other multi-national democracies where the educational representation debate is considered be an acceptable part of the political negotiation over the sharing of power and opportunity. Sociological –––––––––––––– 9 Gender equity in higher education had an economic as well as a philosophic rationale. Most industrial and agricultural employment was labour intensive and because so many men had been killed in the two world wars, having large numbers of women at all levels in the labour force was seen as essential to economic progress.

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surveys of student background are unknown in Central Asia and the Caucasus; hence there was no experience with the measurement of ‘under-representation’. When it was explained, some were fascinated as if the ‘technology’ had just been invented. It is tempting to speculate as to whether the equity of representation based on such a measure might be used extensively. Were one to ask the same question ten years from now, would faculty be familiar with the measure and have an opinion on the concept? Would they be in favour of special programs of assistance, or quota systems in the admissions process? Or will public debate, as in China, be considered too risky to allow. I suspect that it will be too risky and that the practice of systematically collecting information on student backgrounds will be normal practice in some parts of the world and not allowed in others. However, the fact that data do not exist, and that they are not likely to exist, does not mean that there is no problem. In Georgia, for instance, some faculty reacted very positively to the idea that TSU inaugurate its own program of remedial Georgian for Abkhazia students. After all, they theorized, we have always considered Abkhazia to be a part of Georgia. And it was widely acknowledged that Abkhazians were at a disadvantage on admissions tests given in Georgian. So why not make the effort to assure that the best and brightest Abkhazian students could enter the university. And if the government is not able (or willing) to help, it would be a laudable service on the part of the university. Doesn’t the university, they asked, have a role in the building of a peaceful nation? ACADEMIC FREEDOM

The breakup of the Soviet Union did not end the compulsion for control, though the role of universities has shifted. Universities have changed from being an administrative component in a larger ideological machine to an organization with service and technical expectations in a labour market where the rules have changed. The key element which will govern the future of higher education in this region will rest on the degree to which its universities can control their own curriculum. Along with the undergraduate and post-graduate structure, and the exchange of credit hours, the principles of academic autonomy and academic freedom are part of the expectations of the Magna Charta from the European Union’s Bologna agreements (Daxner, 2004; Gibbons, 2005). The Magna Charta Considers autonomy as its first and fundamental principle: the university is an autonomous institution at the heart of societies differently organized because of geography and historical heritage; it produces, examines, appraises, and hands down culture by research and teaching. To meet the needs of the world around it, its research and teaching must be morally and intellectually independent of all political authority and economic power… the autonomy must be guaranteed by governmental law and its potential exploited by the governing bodies of the universities and by academia. Freedom in research and training is the fundamental principle of university 94

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life and governments and universities … must ensure respect for this fundamental requirement. (Blasi, 2005, pp. 172-173) Evidence of this important shift in autonomy might be assessed by the degree to which research endeavours have been freed from the constraints of the past. I was curious as to what extent political control was exercised over research interests, and to what extent are constraints on academic freedom considered to be a problem. Under the Soviet Union there were many examples of state harassment of academics and the frequent abrogation of principles of academic freedom. Access to foreign publications was restricted as a matter of course with most higher education institutions not cleared for such privileges. But there were worse policies than censorship. On some occasions particular theories and interpretations were considered heretical and subversive. Among the precedents for these were psychotherapy, genetics, and certain education polices such as the language of instruction. One respondent at TSU mentioned that there was a laboratory to study psychology founded at the time of the university, in 1918. Between 1920 and about 1970 all psychology was controlled in the USSR. It was considered to be a dangerous science because it considered the subconscious. Cybernetics and all the social sciences were limited by the state ideology. But the USSR was Moscow. We are on the other side of the Caucuses mountains, and we have more freedom. Psychology suffered under the USSR, but our laboratory continued. We preferred to not cite Russian books, but instead preferred to cite German, French and English books. We had freedom, but no information. Somebody finds a book and passes it around. We knew that there was an (enormous) literature out there. Our scientific doors opened about 1970. We met psychologists from the west. We held a world symposium on the subconscious in 1979. From 1920 to 1970 most of the efforts to study psychology were confined. Now there is zero capacity in psychotherapy. I am one of the only ones left; it is not a happy situation. But it is interesting. A professor of genetics at EKSU related a similar story. The history of the study of genetics is really a shame. Russia (the USSR) was once progressive in genetics. But it fell behind because of the stupid mistakes of the government. Who knows where we would be today if these mistakes had not been made. All of the academic research papers on genetics were kept locked up, secret. 50 years later I discovered them. The KGB was so strong then. Many researchers fled the USSR and established research laboratories of their own in other countries; those geneticists who were left behind were arrested and killed. The story is so sad. (65: 22) And with respect to controlling education policy:

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Under the USSR the rector gave an order saying that some of the subjects need to be taught in Russian. I don’t want to praise myself, but I was the only dean who said that the order was unacceptable. Everyone must know foreign languages and the more the better but we must use Georgian. The next day I was at the Ministry of Internal Security where I had a very tough discussion. The head of the central committee said that perhaps the order had been misunderstood and I returned to the university. Today everyone can say whatever they want, but in that day (my statement) was like a bomb. Everyone supported me. Students. Faculty. There was even an illegal newspaper and it supported me. (67: 36) The question is whether the new governments, of whichever leaning, can manage the urge to control opinions in the university which contradict their own. According to one faculty member at TSU, the government intervened for political reasons just like the Soviets. Our first rector in the new government was asked to fire certain professors who were not liked by the government. He refused, and instead he was fired. We were proud of the rector. You have little experience with our political realities. One month after the firing of the rector civil war broke out. We are still in a situation when we are under stress for our opinions, and these could be a threat to our lives. (67: 26) But the sense of academic freedom can hardly exist when there is little precedent for it, and when some among the faculty themselves are not for it. Asked if a faculty member at EKSU should be allowed to criticize the record of the country’s president, one respondent said no. Why would a faculty member criticize our president? After all, our president has had so many achievements. He has built so many things. He has helped in so many ways. I am so proud of him. Why should a faculty member be allowed to have opinions about our president which are not true. (Book 3, p. 24) Fortunately, through contact with other universities in Europe and elsewhere, and by having openly tolerant and highly prestigious universities established locally there is some experience with academic freedom. At AUCA it is common for academics to ‘sound off’, including against the foreign policy of the U.S., although one of its sponsors is the US Department of State. The fact that open criticism from some of the professoriate does not in any way threaten the purpose or functions of AUCA is at first curious, and then an important precedent. Several senior administrators or faculty are involved in political party politics, participate in national debates; several faculty are being considered as candidates for the rector ship of major governmental universities, and this seems to add to its reputation rather than threaten it. At TSU, with the significant reforms occurring throughout the higher education system, similar characteristics pertain. Many faculty and administrators were in line for promotions, political appointments and were well known to the electorate. And this seemed to add to its reputation as well. In 96

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essence, for those nations (including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Georgia), hoping to integrate into the standards of the European Union, academic freedom is slowly but steadily becoming a reality. HONESTY OF UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION AND FACULTY

Although many point out that under the Soviets, advancement into and within universities was subject to political and personal manipulation, by and large, the process was meritocratic. This is not to say that it was not cumbersome and inefficient. Entrance exams were oral. Travel to the site of the university was a necessity, and could require a week each way. If a student applied to more than one university, located in different parts of the Soviet Union, travel to take the oral admissions examinations might require months of preparation and trial. Since independence there have been numerous challenges to the meritocracy tradition. Salaries dipped at one time to about $30/month, throwing many cherished and senior academics into the realm of poverty for the first time in their professional lives. Rules of trade, banking, property ownership, and manufacturing were being broken with regularity. For the first time, universities were expected to seek their own revenues. The generation of fees and profits quickly became an essential element to the university’s and the professoriate’s survival. With neither precedent nor experience to act as a guide many believed that their activities were the norm elsewhere. After all they asked, didn’t western universities have to raise monies too? Weren’t the ways in which universities make money here the same as in the west? Is it a problem if a student pays for gaining entry? Isn’t that part of being a market economy? I was interested in how the challenges to meritocracy were seen by the faculty and administrators themselves. Are they being ignored and excused, or seen as a threat to university integrity? If the latter, what steps have been contemplated for addressing the problem? To what extent are these steps seen as being effective? Questions of academic honesty (corruption) were of higher concern than any other question. Some respondents were honest and confident enough to describe incidents in which they participated in dishonest acts. They also included detailed answers to the question “how did participating in that act make you feel?” Although some were clearly nervous about that question, only three respondents refused to allow a tape recording of their answers. One senior professor at TSU laid out what he considered the recent history of corruption at his university: Admissions were a way to make money, huge money. But once inside the university, corruption depended upon the department. It was worse in law and business and economics.10 It makes no sense to be corrupt in math and physics. (Why?). No one in his right mind would study math or physics if he is corrupt. If you go into math or physics there is no work, no jobs, so we get –––––––––––––– 10 The tendency of corruption being worse in subjects with the highest labour market demand appears to be common elsewhere (Heyneman, Anderson, & Nuraliyeva, 2006; Teixeira & Rocha, 2006; Hrabak et al., 2004; Kerkvliet, 1994; Nowell & Laufer, 1997).

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only highly motivated students. Medicine was the first faculty to become corrupt. But it is not only because of demand; there is also the question of prestige, the diploma. (44: 27) Corruption could occur in any circumstance in which a student needed a service from the university. It could occur over access to library books, student housing, requests for transcripts, even approval of a doctoral thesis. One professor from EKSU said: When I was a student I did not know what corruption was. But then I got to Almaty and I found out. Now it is even here at this university. When I wrote my thesis I faced many difficulties. It took me seven years to defend my thesis. I had to go back again and again and again to get the signature of the committee chair. I did not pay, but I know that it would have been expedited if I had paid a bribe. (75: 1) Why is corruption so prevalent? One TSU faculty member attributed it to the mentality of today’s students. Corruption is big, very big. The main reason is the low salary. The next reason is the mentality of the students. We have to change this mentality. Western countries have had two hundred years to develop their market economies. We have had ten years. Students still think of employment as they did under the Soviets; many of them have already been promised jobs. These jobs depend on their obtaining a diploma. So they come to university focused not on learning but on obtaining a diploma. They don’t have to earn their diploma in order to be employed; all they have to do is have one. This is because these are the first formative years of our market economy. (79: 29) Others attribute corruption to the problem to local culture. Corruption happens because of the ‘Kazakh mentality’. But this mentality is not only for Kazakh people; I have many Russian friends who have the same mentality. The ‘Kazakh mentality’ is ‘Kazakhstani’; it is typical of all people who live here. (73: 29) Do the faculty understand the ‘macro- implications’ of corruption? Some do. One Kazakh professor mentioned that: Corruption is bad. It is clear even for a fool that we are producing not very smart people. Corruption will affect our economy. If we produce a foolish agriculturalist, and he chooses a bad crop, a bad seed, the result will affect all of us. We have suffered before from famine. We can again. There are implications of corruption in which it becomes an internal threat to our economy. This is true for every discipline, chemistry, physics, and mathematics. That is why foreign companies are using all kinds of screening and testing devices for their new employees. Our local companies should do the same thing; and these screening devices should be independent. (79: 39) 98

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But educational corruption is not solely defined by bribery. As problematic, and certainly as common, is the commitment of an illegal act for reasons of loyalty to family and friends. This was described as ‘moral terrorism’ and comes in the form of phone calls and special pleas from intimate family members, sometimes older and more senior than oneself. One TSU professor put it this way: Moral pressure used to happen frequently. Of course we get phone calls. How many depends on the department and on the year. In some years I used to get between 25 and 50 requests to change a grade/year; in other years, only two or three. I try to explain that I can’t do it. But the caller is never satisfied (with that answer). They continue to put pressure on me. They will say that my son is a good student, but he was ill and had no chance to study. Please improve his grade. (Did you change?). I did change grades. It was a matter of pressure. The pressure was just unbearable. But I only changed a grade from ‘satisfactory’ to ‘good’; I never changed a grade from ‘satisfactory’ to ‘excellent’. (44: 28) And a faculty member from TSU: I am an honest person and I don’t have a bad name among students. However, if ‘protection’ is considered to be a part of corruption, I am also corrupt. We have big pressures from relatives and friends, and society; and we can’t hide it. Even if we try to point out that protection hurts their daughters and sons, they say we are ‘the enemy’. I get calls very often. I have many classes. It happens very often. The new (exam) system helps. Students have learned that I am angry when asked to give them a favour. How often I get requests depends on how strict I am. If I am more liberal, I get more pressure. Before the new system, the teacher was over-whelmed with special requests. The new system helps me to be more objective. It is very difficult to not take account of friends and family, but the result will be a (nation of) semi-professionals. (36: 13) The worst occasions of ‘moral terrorism’ occur when faculty colleagues or senior administrators request that one change a grade for a particular student. From TSU for instance: The worst are my colleagues who put pressure on me. They meet me in the hallway and start to say ‘hello’, then they ask me about the grade of a particular student. And the worst are colleagues who were our former teachers. What can you do? This is the system. Even the dean puts pressure. Not directly, but he will ask someone close to me to inquire about a grade for a student on his behalf. It makes me feel pretty bad. Teachers who are corrupt should go. But how? The most corrupt are the most influential. It is very difficult. Very hard. (44: 28) Said another faculty member from EKSU:

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The pressure from higher levels usually begins with a hint. Teachers may or may not listen. But the argument may include the fact that we can’t fail all students because we need the tuition. (77: 25) And from EKSU: Once the dean called me about a grade for the daughter of the vice rector. The vice rector had been removed from his position and was in the hospital. The dean said that the vice rector had already suffered and let’s not make him suffer any more, so give his daughter a good grade. After I gave her a good grade I suffered. (62: 1) Yes I have changed grades. It happens a lot. You get indirect requests and direct requests through phone calls You just do it. There is no way out. You have to change grades. One former vice rector had a daughter. She was a poor student. She skipped many classes. The dean called to tell me to give her a good grade, and I did. I gave her an ‘excellent’. Afterwards I felt disgusted. I have certain requirements for my students and they try to meet those requirements, but some students receive good grades without even trying. (62: 10) When faculty admitted to changing grades illegally, I sometimes asked how it made them feel. Many described it as making them feel terrible. Several respondents ended up in tears, and the interview had to be delayed. One woman suggested that it ‘made her feel violated’. But often there were rationalizations. One faculty member at EKSU said that when she changed a grade she knew: that someone else benefited; I did something good for someone else even though I suffered. I told myself that students who got excellent marks will be good specialists in the future and those who got good marks but who didn’t earn them; they will be poor specialists in the future. They will suffer because of not learning. (62: 10) And another said: For a while I had a firm position about changing grades. But I was making a lot of enemies. Now I try to meet the requests half way. I still make the student study, but I will give him a good grade. I will give a student an easy assignment to complete and then give him/her a good grade. I get phone calls and direct requests. On the inside I know I am not doing the right thing. But I remember my high school I went to a private high school with students from wealthy families. The director used to get many phone calls from parents asking her to give special results for their particular children. I know it is wrong to change a grade because of this pressure. A student needs to understand that the grade is a reward for effort. (82: 12) Education dishonesty (corruption) is a universal concern and perceived to be pervasive. It is also the case there are numerous faculty members who remain 100

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adamantly resistant to participation. In an environment of deep personal poverty, massive general disrespect for the law, and ferocious pressures from senior administrators and important public figures to illegally alter grades for personal and protected relatives, there is adamant resistance among the faculty. It may be true what Burton Clark and others have suggested about universities, that they do in fact try to uphold their own definition of moral order. For instance a professor from TSU mentioned: When I get a call from a student, do you know what I say? I say, do you know what I love? I love to see you study hard. I don’t get angry. I say you don’t need to call me. You will do just fine. It is absolutely clear that their call means nothing. (Then why call?). Because this is Georgia. This is our culture and our tradition. It may be hard for you to understand. If I am tough though, the number of calls decreases. I try to be honest. The students know that there is no reason to call me. (What if a special friend of yours calls?). Will I change a grade because the mother is my special friend? No. Absolutely not. Whether the mother is my friend has nothing to do with changing a grade. (Why not?). Because there is another student next to her whose mother is not my friend. Why should the student whose mother is not my friend suffer? I have to be fair. (40: 2) (Why don’t you change the grade; nobody will know.). I will know. It is a question of moral values. We must choose which is the most important moral value. Fairness to students is more important than ‘loyalty’ to friends and family. It is important for a university to have many faculty who choose fairness over family loyalty. (Why?), It is not only about yourself. It is about the kid. And the kid next to the son of your friend. It about setting a moral example, a moral lesson for the others. It is about showing all the students how to make a moral choice, even if it is a difficult choice. (Do your students know about how difficult your choice is?). I tell my students that a mother called me, and without saying who, I tell them my policy. They know. (40: 7) Many were able to identify the strength of their values and to explain where they came from. People are individuals but we must represent moral values. Personally I just do it. I decide what to do in my case. If my friend calls to say he has a child in my class who needs me to improve his grade I tell my friend that his child is intelligent and educated and would advise my friend to have his child work harder on his moral skills. I would not give in because I do the same for my children. I tell my children that they must achieve on their own; I will never help them with a special phone call and moral pressure. I tell them they need to gain education on their own and if they cannot do it own their own that they must do something else with their lives. (51: 1) And family pressure is strong. We Kazakhs have huge families. But as for me, I would not change a grade in response to family pressure even if it was 101

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my own father asking me. That is how my father raised us. He was a leader in the Communist party and he taught us to be honest; to never take money from people illegally. My students are the source of my pride and I want them to succeed on their own. (77: 25) I have had such cases of friends and family calling me to ask me to change a grade and when this happens I become very aggressive. I have never changed a grade because of the pressure of friends. (Why not?) Because if they are really my friends they will respect my authority. When they call me I feel very angry. Friends must not ask me to do something which will harm me. Friendship does not allow people to ask such things. (If the call comes from someone in senior authority?). I try to defend myself in a correct and delicate way. I explain in a respectful way that I can’t do this. (Where did you learn this?) From my mother and my father. (55: 1) Where does honesty begin? Everything starts in the family. I teach my children. I tell them that they should work hard with their minds and have knowledge as their tool. My oldest daughter graduated from high school and wanted to go to a university in the south. I told her that it would be very hard; that she would have to study very hard but that she should never give up; she should never give in to paying a teacher (to change a grade). I told her that she should prove herself with her knowledge. Even if they are pressing (pressuring) you should never pay. The teacher is not the last authority. You can contact other people. You can ask to form a committee. There has got to be a way to prove that your (knowledge) is right. There is an anonymous corruption phone line here at this university, but no one uses it. Students should educate each other on this and take matters into their own hands. (74: 39) Should faculty members obey their loyalty to being fair or their loyalty to their family’s needs and requests for special treatment? I don’t believe that any teacher needs to give in to family pressure. People must make a choice for themselves. I don’t believe in fate. It is up to them to decide. And they should remember that people who do bad things begin small, they begin with small bad things. (75: 17) In one instance a faculty member related the story of her husband who was her student. My husband is a student in night classes and is one of my students. He would not accept a low grade. It makes me angry. It is not fair. But I am not strong enough to resist the pressure to change the grades of my students. (Book 3: p. 68)

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But there were other cases where loyalty to family was clearly superseded by adherence to the laws of fairness. I had an older sister and in high school she was my Russian language teacher. One day I told her that I was not prepared, and please do not call on me today. She replied that she would call me on specifically on that day because I want you to be a good student. I don’t want you to shame me. She was correct because in class she saw me as a student and not as her sister, and she wanted me to be an excellent student. She didn’t want me to take the easy way out. (62: 5) What should one do with those who are caught? Corruption is like a disease, like a virus. With virus, like avian flu, we have to eliminate all the affected chickens and even the chickens that just might be affected. What should we do in the case of corruption: shoot all the students and faculty? (!) (74: 37) I can’t imagine that I would ask a student to leave the university if he is caught in corruption. It is difficult to enter the university and students who get here deserve to study. But the student who is corrupt is stupid. He pays money for nothing; he comes to the university to gain knowledge and he pays for a grade without getting knowledge. That is stupid. That is why a corrupt student is not my problem; it is his problem. A faculty member who is corrupt should leave the university. But maybe he has a serious problem. Maybe his family is poor. Perhaps he does not want to be corrupt; perhaps he is corrupt because of the pressure on him. In that case it is not his fault; it is the fault of the pressure. We should do our best to make the case public. A faculty member should be ashamed. Shame is the worst punishment of all. (56: 24) Although it was widely acknowledged that the problems of corruption were pervasive, there was also evidence that in some instances they were on the decline. All three countries had recently instituted standardized, computer-graded admissions exams with the explicit purpose of addressing the problems of corruption in university admissions. One professor at TSU assessed the results in this way: Before national (standardized) exams corruption was very high and moral pressure (to change grades) was also. The departments which are more prestigious are the worst in terms of corruption. Law, Business. International Relations. Because of the exams however, many things have changed. Students from rural areas and from poor homes are more numerous. When bribery was necessary to enter the university, these students had no chance to enter. Today because of the examinations, they do. This is very new and very good. (35: 10)

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Does access to a standardized examination eliminate the problems of corruption? Hardly. Said one professor at EKSU: After two years, each college student takes an internal exam designed by the ministry of education. For the first several years it operated fairly. But now it too has become corrupted. Cell phones and cheat sheets (for a price) are allowed into the test. (73: 36) SUMMARY

It is not possible to support a conclusion on the basis of empirical evidence from this project. Interviewed subjects were not chosen at random. Nor is it possible to portray them as representative of national trends. Still, it might be possible to draw some impressions. Each university among those chosen appears to have different characteristics and challenges. At AUCA the challenge is to live up to its claim of providing an American liberal arts educational experience. In many ways it is already successful. Among the interviewed students and faculty there was a surprising consensus: they would prefer to be nowhere else. For local faculty, the pay was significantly in excess of what other universities could pay (although less than a typical American university). All enjoyed a freedom of research interests and bright, highly motivated students. Academic honesty was considered a principal selling point, and in stark contrast to other local universities. Time and again respondents would point out this fact. They would mention the rigorous code of conduct and the internal structures for managing breaches in the conduct code, either by students or faculty. Because the reputation of academic honesty is so rare in the region, the precedent may be of importance for all local universities and for any students whether at AUCA or elsewhere. How else is a Kyrgyz student to know what a normal university looks like if there are no honest local universities?11 TSU is struggling to rid itself of three past characteristics: its corruption, inefficiency and intellectual lethargy (based on Soviet employment principles of an ‘iron academic rice bowl’). However, it is undergoing this adjustment with a surprising degree of cooperation and support from among its faculty in spite of the fact that many of their positions have been threatened. Though there were complaints about age discrimination, faculty and students generally support the new directions in which the university is headed. TSU represents the future of universities more generally. It is attempting to become competitive in a higher education world defined by the success of teaching and research universities in Europe and North America. It looks to the Nordic nations for language policy and has begun to emphasize English in a broad spectrum of courses and degree programs without a threat to local culture and tradition.12 On the other hand, –––––––––––––– 11 In a corruption ranking, a student survey in Kyrgyzstan has listed foreign universities (Turkish and American) as being more honest than any local university (Heyneman, Anderson, & Nuraliyeva, 2006). 12 Nordic universities typically utilize English as a medium of instruction, particularly in the sciences, yet without threat to local languages.

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EKSU is struggling to have any effective connection to the world outside the traditional Russian-language sphere of influence. It is impoverished in resources and handicapped by crippling government regulations and administrative decrees. Because of low mobility, faculty remain in place for decades. The struggle at EKSU to emerge as a ‘normal’ university will be long and difficult. There are similarities across all three universities. Faculty leaders exist, even in the most austere and debilitating of environments. There are some who lead by virtue of moral principle. There are others who rise to the occasion and lead on the basis of practical assessment. Regardless of the source of their strength, given this commonality, there is a universal standard of the professoriate. The standard is parallel to the characteristics as identified by Braxton and Bayer (1999). It includes the promise to treat all students with fairness and impartiality. And it includes selecting a common hierarchy among differing moral principles. In particular it requires that faculty choose the principle of fairness (to students and colleagues) over the principle of loyalty to family and friends. In this small but important way, certain faculty in Central Asia and the Caucasus may be leading the way for other local organizations in government, business and the not-for-profit sector. These ‘quiet heroes’ of the university classroom, those who stand up for their principles without legal or administrative support, in their own way these resisters are upholding the principles associated with development and freedom. They do this without the possibility of reward; on the contrary, they do this in spite of making enemies and enduring the criticism of their corrupt administrative superiors. They do this for one reason: that it is right and that it is consistent with what their mothers and fathers taught them. The future for these universities and for these faculties is not simple. In terms of pedagogy, they will work out standards of excellence and adhere to them gradually but steadily. In terms of teaching history, there are deep problems ahead, stemming particularly from the requirements handed down by ministry authorities. The new histories are based largely on oral stories and not subject to normal testing for verisimilitude. The principal problem, however, is not the over-reliance on oral tradition but the lack of balance among heroes and villains, exaggerations in claims to uniqueness and wisdom, and an omission of alternatives stories of neighbouring groups (including early Russian settlers) an absence which is obvious to all neighbours and many of their own citizens. In terms of civic values, under the circumstances, many faculty are doing an excellent job. The problem, particularly in EKSU, is there is little support from the administration underpinning the moral principles in need of reinforcement. There is an absence of empirical data on corruption. There are no student or faculty codes of conduct; no reports of trends, no punishments announced nor awards for resistance to temptation. There is silence and rumour. To uphold standards when the standards are not even written, much less clear, may be too much to expect. In terms of community relations, most universities have not yet understood its importance and may not be able to focus on this problem for a generation or more. In terms of equity of representation, the discussion is in its infancy. There will be discussion, but governments will continue to be too nervous to allow surveys of student backgrounds. Until then 105

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debate will include only impressionistic claim and counter claim. In terms of academic freedom, except at AUCA, there is little testing of the water. With the new international connections to universities in Europe, the issue can be expected to become more important and more common at TSU. This would be true of all universities which have close relations with Europe. In general it can be said that in spite of the considerable differences in precedent and local conditions, that the faculty in each of these three universities were very concerned about having a moral and attitudinal effect on their students. It is possible to conclude that they understood that their effect was expected to be broader than to provide technical skills. And it is fair to conclude that part of the way in which they see their responsibility is to make social cohesion in their society more possible. REFERENCES Almond, G. A. & Verba, S. (1963). The civic culture. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Anderson, C. A. (1952). School and society in England: Social backgrounds of Oxford and Cambridge University students. Annals of American Research (Public Affairs Press). Anderson, C. A. (1956). Social status of university students. Transactions of the Third World Congress of Sociology, 5, 51-63. Anderson, C. A. (1975). Expanding educational opportunity: Conceptualization and measurement. Higher Education, 4, 393-400. Berger, P. (1999). The limits of social cohesion. Westview Press. Blasi, P. (2005). Science as practice: Extending university autonomy by combining research and teaching. In Observatory for Fundamental University Values and Rights (Ed.), Managing university autonomy: University autonomy and the institutional balancing of teaching and research (pp. 159178). Bologna: Bononia University Press. Bowman, M. J. (1962). Land grant colleges and universities in human development. The Journal of Economic History, 22(4), 523-546. Braxton, J. M. & Bayer, A. E. (1999). Faculty misconduct in collegiate teaching. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Colatrella, C. & Alkana, J. (1994). Cohesion and dissent in America. Albany: SUNY Press. Coleman, J. S. (1987). Norms as social capital. In G. Radmitzky & P. Bernholz (Eds.), Economic imperialism (pp. 133-155). New York: Pergon Press Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94, 95-120. Centre for Civics Education (1994). National standards for civics and governance. Calabasas, CA: National Centre for Civics Education Daxner, M. (2004). Academic freedom and university institutional responsibilities in South Eastern Europe. Bologna: Bononia University Press. Desjardins, R. (2001). The effects of learning on economic well-being: A comparative analysis. Peabody Journal of Education, 76(3-4), 141-153. Durkheim, E. (1997). Suicide: A study in sociology. New York: Free Press. Dreeben, R. (1967). The contribution of schooling to the learning of social norms. Harvard Education Review, 73(2), 211-237. Ehrlich, T. (2000). Civic responsibility and higher education. Washington: ACE/Oryx. Feinberg, W. (2000). Common schools/uncommon identities, cultural differences and national unity. New Haven: Yale University Press. Gibbons, M. (2005). Engagement with the community: A new basis for university autonomy in a knowledge society. In Observatory for Fundamental University Values and Rights (Ed.), Managing university autonomy: University autonomy and the institutional balancing of teaching and research (pp. 121-150). Bologna: Bononia University Press.

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MORAL STANDARDS AND THE PROFESSOR Gintis, H. (1971). Education, technology and the characteristics of worker productivity. American Economic Review, 61, 266-279. Gutmann, A. (1987). Democratic education. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Harbison, F. H. & Myers, C. A. (1964). Education, manpower and economic growth: Strategies of human resource development. New York: McGraw Hill Publishers. Heyneman, S. P. (1995). Economics of education: Disappointments and potential. Prospects, XXV(4), 559-583. Heyneman, S. P. (1997a). Economic development and the international trade in education reform. Prospects, XXVII(4), 501-530. Heyneman, S. P. (1997b). Educational choice in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Education Economics, 5(3), 333-339. Heyneman, S. P. (1997c). Education and social stability in Russia. Compare, 27(1), 5-18. Heyneman, S. P. (1998). The transition from party/state to open democracy: The role of education. International Journal of Education Development, 18(1), 21-40. Heyneman, S. P. (2000a). From the party/state to multi-ethnic democracy: Education and social cohesion in Europe and Central Asia. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 22(2), 173-191. Heyneman, S. P. (2000b). A renewed sense of purpose of schooling: Education and social cohesion in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Europe and Central Asia (Co-authored with S. Todoric-Bebic). Prospects, XXX(2), 145-166. Heyneman, S. P. (2001). Education: A passport to social cohesion and economic prosperity (Coauthored with G. Catlaks & I. Dedze). Riga: Soros Foundation. Heyneman, S. P. (2002/3). Defining the influence of education on social cohesion. International Journal of Education Policy, Research and Practice, 2(4), 73-97. Heyneman, S. P. (2003a). Education, social cohesion and the role of international organizations. Peabody Journal of Education, 78(3), 25-38. Heyneman, S. P. (2003b). Education and misconduct. Encyclopaedia of education, Vol. 6, pp. 16591668 (Ed. J. Guthrie). New York: Macmillan Publishers. Heyneman, S. P. (2003c). Education and social cohesion. Encyclopaedia of education, Vol. 6, pp. 2242-2250 (Ed. J. Guthrie). New York: Macmillan Publishers. Heyneman, S. P. (2004a). Education and corruption. International Journal of Education Development, 24(6). Heyneman, S. P. (2004b). Corruption in education – Is it a problem of education or society as a whole? School Director (Moscow) 3, 3-11. С. Хайнеман «Коррупция в образовании – проблема самого образования или общества в целом С. 3-11. «Директор школы» №3, 2004. Heyneman, S. P. (Ed.) (2004c). Organizations and social cohesion. Peabody Journal of Education, special issue. Heyneman, S. P., Anderson, K. H., & Nuraliyeva, N. (2008). The cost of corruption in higher education. Comparative Education Review, 51(2), 1-25. Hrabak, M., Vujaklija, A., Vodopivec, I., Hren, D., & Marusic, A. (2004) Academic misconduct among medical students in a post-communist country. Medical Education, 38(3), 276-285. Hyman, H. H. & Wright, C. R. (1979). Education’s lasting influence on values. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Inkeles, A. & Smith, D. H. (1974). Becoming modern. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Kerkvliet, J. (1994). Cheating by economics students: A comparison of survey results. Journal of Economic Education, 25(2), 121-351. Lipset, S. M (1959). Some social requisites of democracy: Economic development and political legitimacy. American Political Science Review, 53, 69-105. Moiseyenko, O. (2004). Higher education and social cohesion. Peabody Journal of Education, special issue on Organizations and social cohesion (Ed. S. P. Heyneman) (forthcoming). Mansbridge, J. J. (1989). Beyond self-interest. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. North, D. C. (1990). Institutions, institutional change and economic performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Nowell, C. & Laufer, D. (1997). Undergraduate student cheating in the fields of business and economics. Journal of Economic Education, 28, 3-12. Olson, M. (1965). The logic of collective action: Public goods and the theory of groups. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Olson, M. (1982). The rise and decline of nations. New Haven: Yale University Press.

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STEPHEN P. HEYNEMAN Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (2001). The well being of nations: The role of human and social capital. Paris: OECD. Perkin, H. (1984). The historical perspective. In B. Clark (Ed.), Perspective on higher education: Eight disciplinary and comparative views (pp. 17-55). Berkeley: University of California Press. Psacharopoulos, G., Tan, J. P., & Jiménez, E. (1986). Financing education in developing countries: An exploration of policy options Washington, DC: The World Bank. Powell, W. W. & DiMaggio, P. (1991). The new institutionalism in organizational analysis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Puryear, J. M. (1994). Thinking politics: Intellectuals and democracy in Chile 1973-1988. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. Putnam, R. D. (1993). Making democracy work: Civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Ravitch, D. (2003). The language police: How pressure groups restrict what students learn. New York: Knopf. Scott, W. R. (2001). Institutions and organizations (2nd edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Sen, A. (2005). The argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian history, culture and identity. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Sen, A. (2006). Identity and violence. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Teixeira, A. A. C. & Roacha, M. F. (2006). Academic cheating in Austria, Portugal, Romania, and Spain: A comparative analysis. Research in Comparative and International Education, 1(3), 198209. Task force on Higher Education and Society (2004). Moderated discussion: The task force on higher education and society. Comparative Education Review, 48(1), 70-88. Verba, S., Nie, N., & Kim, J. (1978). Participation and political equality: A seven nation comparison. London: Cambridge University Press. World Bank (1994). Higher education: Lessons of experience. Washington, DC: The World Bank. World Bank (1995). Priorities and strategies for education. Washington, DC: The World Bank. World Bank (2000, March). Higher education in developing countries: Peril and promise. Washington, DC: The World Bank. World Bank (2001). Constructing knowledge societies: New challenges for tertiary education. Washington, DC: World Bank.

AFFILIATIONS

Stephen P. Heyneman Peabody College Vanderbilt University Nashville, Tennessee USA

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BOJAN MARICIK

MODELS OF CORRUPTION AND HOW STUDENTS COULD RESPOND Corruption Experienced by the Students during Their Studies in Macedonia and Their Anticorruption Measures

INTRODUCTION

In South Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin wall a period of social, political and economic transition took place. There was an absence of good governance, transparency and accountability in public institutions. Because of a lack of legal enforcement stakeholders took advantage of the situation. The education system was no exception and the result was education corruption. Education corruption is more important than corruption in other areas. The educational process is crucial in the shaping of a young person’s personality and one of the main stages of socialization. If young people become used to corruptive and manipulative behaviour as a means for advancing that damage cannot be remedied later. This analysis will explain some of the causes, conditions and models of corruption within higher education in Macedonia. These have been recognized by students through different surveys conducted by different non-government organizations including the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia (in the further text FOSIM). In May, 2003 FOSIM sampled 2000 students from three main Macedonian universities ( Sts Cyril and Methodius, Skopje, University St. Kliment Ohridski Bitola and the University of South East Europe in Tetovo). In addition to the evidence from Macedonia the paper will draw on a broader set of influences including the legal framework proposed through the Law on higher education (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia No. 35/08 and 103/08) and the impact of the European Credit-Transfer system. This analysis will also draw upon the work of the Youth Educational Forum, a non for profit organization responsible for raising the corruption issue and suggesting the first regulatory actions to be taken. DEFINING THE PROBLEM AND FACTORS FOR OCCURRENCE

From a student’s perspective, corruption could be defined as any kind of manipulation which breaches the legal, moral, ethical and functional rules and regulations of the process of higher education. In this sense corruption could S.P. Heyneman (ed.), Buying Your Way into Heaven, 109–119. © 2009 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

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include an exhaustive list of contentions. But before entering into detail, it is necessary to explain the numerous factors that facilitate and encourage corruptive behaviour of stakeholders. The first pre-condition is an absence of anticorruption legislation or enforcement. This includes corruption in terms of official legal documents of public institutions and internal documents of educational institutions. Misuse of power and bribery are defined by the Criminal Law of Macedonia as being the abuse of the authority, position or function for the purpose of paying or receiving bribes. That definition might be sufficient for the legal framework of the system, but it is not sufficient for understanding the full range of education corruption. In the law on higher education only in Article 150 is the student entitled with the right of protection from the misuse of public authority; moreover the instruments for protection are not stated, except in the establishment of the students’ ombudsman and general provisions of student participation in higher education management. This lack of specific protection is supported by an absence of a code of conduct for students and academic employees. Yet these documents, as important as they may seem, are in reality only of ceremonial value. Codes of Conduct rarely provide sufficient basis to enforce rights and obligations of students and professors. Even if an institution has them, a higher education institution rarely refers to their power and dignity in the prosecution of violations. Terms such as conflict of interest, money tracking, and money laundering remain undefined. On the other hand, there is a good law in Macedonia (supported with institutional instruments) on access to information of public significance. But according to transparency-oriented organizations in 2007, only an insignificant percentage of the requests to obtain information were granted in higher education. The Youth Educational Forum, in cooperation and support of FOSIM, organized a project that will focus on getting information from higher educational institutions. This situation does not lead to student confidence in the system and its functioning. During a survey of focus groups in 2003, students concluded that even if a professor is “caught in the act”, later proceedings are remote from justice and without effective conclusion. This lowers the level of courage necessary to report corruption and pose questions to the administration. However, in the ongoing project to obtain public information, preliminary results suggest a general interest to respond but with answers which are frequently unclear or unhelpful. The lack of public funding is another factor which encourages corruption. The per-student cost is larger than the funding delivered by the Central Government. Salary inequality in different faculties supplements the lack of funding overall. Humanities have higher enrolments hence academic staff sometimes have higher salaries than the sciences. This is a source of frustration and adds to frustration stemming from the low salaries of university professors in general. For the problems about public financing of the public universities, Gjorgji Martinovski PhD, the Rector of the University “Sts Cyril and Methodius” in Skopje at the end of 2004 and beginning of 2005 in interviews for the daily newspaper “Dnevnik” and Radio Free Europe said that the public funding has diminished by 25% in the period 1998-2005. He claims that the lack of funding is the most important 110

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problem and hence public universities will not be able to complete their obligations under Bologna process if the funding arrangement. Lack of clear academic curricula and regulations pertaining to examinations have emerged because of the slow process of reform and enforcement of the European credit transfer system started in 2002. This creates an atmosphere of arbitrary power of the academic staff in the evaluation process and accreditation process as well. The lack of effective evaluation appeared as one of the greatest concerns expressed by focus groups during the FOSIM survey. According to student interviews, professors act as if they were “gods” and untouchable. Moreover, there is no viable internal evaluation which could act as a system of checks. Political affiliations and interdependence between university and government structures have been apparent since 1992. In practical matters, it means that universities could become a powerful intellectual background and potential critic for any government. Therefore every government tends to retain a good relationship and not interfere in the autonomy of the universities. However, this term “autonomy” should refer to academic and intellectual independence and not “criminal amnesty”. The absence of a method to prove that corruption is common in universities handicaps enforcers. The students’ impression is that the investigation tools are least developed in education. Whenever the Ministry of Interior addresses students on this issue it refers to the most severe and visible cases and methods such as bribery (with marked notes) and sexual abuse. All of the cases detected and responded to by the police in 2007 were based on these forms. These factors make corruption a profitable activity. Corruption is accessible, effective and without legal response. The perception of students supports this view. The cost of an exam bribe ranges between 200–4000 Euro (Survey from the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia, held in 2003). Because the average salary in Macedonia is 260 Euro, the attractiveness of the corruption makes perfect sense. Stakeholder silence affects public acceptance of corruption as alternative tool to gain education credit. The Ministry of Education has a limited budget to finance public universities. Instead of concentrating on the current public universities, authorities have expanded the number of universities (‘education at scale’). Students perceive university administration and faculties to have non-transparent practices and corrupt behaviour. Therefore they believe that legal structures are incapable of fighting corruption and implementing reform. Academic staff are in a difficult position. It is wrong to suggest that individual professors are corrupt. At same extent it is false to say that they are totally corruption free. Honest professors are in an uncomfortable position and remain silent about their dishonest colleagues. This situation fits the students’ position as well. The other side of the corruption story is that students (or a certain share of them) are willing to participate in corruption in order to gain academic acknowledgement. In the survey “Corruption in the higher education in the Republic of Macedonia” used throughout this article, a question asks students if they are ready to provide a bribe for passing an exam successfully. 111

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Unfortunately, 36% out of 2000 interviewed students answered positively. This suggests that students are both a cause and a victim of corrupt behaviour. This is so because those 36% would rather pay than study. Those who would pay a bribe set bad example for those which are hard-working and hope for educational advancement based on their legitimately gained achievements. MODELS OF CORRUPTIVE BEHAVIOUR

In the students’ perception, all of the following activities constitute corruptive behaviour: abuse of authority, position or function for obtaining material goods; obtaining unmerited personal goods, benefits and gains on other persons’ account; demand or coercion of bribery for passing an exam; offering or paying bribery for passing an exam; sexual harassment or transactional sex for passing an exam, trading of powers (favour for favour system); non-transparent disposal of students’ money (tuition and other kinds of fee); non-transparent disposal of public funds; Inconsistent enrolment and internal administrative procedures; illegal and immoral book-selling; exam cheating; private irregular tutorials; plagiarism; nepotism; inconsistent proceedings in the investigation of the corruption cases; nontransparent and illegal granting of the student housing. Though some of these might not be treated as classical corruption, all add to a rotten educational system. Sexual harassment is an obvious type of corruption together with the bribery and exchange of favours. Female students are profoundly affected by this form of corruption. It may come in a form of transactional sex or an offer of violent free harassment. Both hinder female integrity. Students rarely report this type of corruption due to the difficulty of proving guilt and the personal embarrassment which honesty may bring. According to the 2003 survey, only 1% of the students answered they have been offered to be interfered in a sexual intercourse for passing an exam, but 17% of them have heard about a story of a close friend about such sexual offers. In cooperation with the prosecution office the police detect and proceed in average two cases of sexual harassment per year. Bribery is the most obvious form of corruption and easiest to fight. The classical form includes paying money to pass an exam. In cooperation with the prosecution office the police detected five cases of bribery in 2007 (the government successfully battles only with this type of higher educational corruption by marking the notes aimed to bribe). Speaking about the students’ experience they say only 5% of them have been offered to pay bribe but on the other hand 25% of them know the bribe price of a specific exam. This shows either that they are afraid to discuss these issues in public or that they hear a lot about bribery but don’t often practice it. Either way, the sophistication of the methods of bribery include organized groups of mediators which have the duty to protect professors and the students involved in bribery. Trade of favours and nepotism are most common types of corruption experienced by students. Professors may pass a student in exchange for a favour. Favours may range from restaurant services to sponsorship for book editions, travels or gifts. The most problematic form is favouritism in employment. As with 112

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monetary bribery, only 5% of the students admit that they were involved in a trade of favours, but 27% have heard about a situation of their fellow-students taking part in it. Obligatory textbook selling has been a significant problem. Academic staff, who have written an obligatory book for their own course, require a textbook purchase as a condition to take the class exam. This can be quite lucrative. Fifty-five percent of the students claim that in some courses purchasing the book is main precondition to take the class exam; while 23% claim that book purchase is a precondition in most courses. Some faculties introduced rules that forbid such behaviour but this custom is very hard to diminish due to the large financial stake involved. Student representation has always been a tough question in Macedonia. Student Unions can also be corrupt. Weak student representation may undermine the ability of students to advocate a position against corruption. There are several areas in which the student unions may be corrupt. The most controversial is the monopoly of representation. University administrations have seen no need to change this. Moreover, there is one legal organization to represent students, named as the Student Union in which a lot of power is concentrated in the President. This has led to irregularities and violent campaigns in the process of elections. In 20022004 the two candidates for president were pressing court charges against each other until the court decided that the elected President was not legitimate due to violations in the election process. In the recent 2006 election the President of the Central electoral body was attacked and pressured by one of the groups running for the elections. All of the candidates are politically affiliated to some political party. This lowers the confidence of the students and the credibility of the student union. This structure functions as a closed organization with people who are politically and personally affiliated that have great stake of power in the representation of students through the university governing bodies and faculties, boards of admission for student dorms, concessions for internet centres, etc. This power is abused in quite non-transparent manner without any accountability. That is why the turn-out for student elections is never larger than 10-15%. Until 2007 the Student Union had received its annual income from an obligatory tax on students. The Youth Educational Forum took the issue to the Constitutional Court. The tax impositions were banned in May 2008. Finally, in Article 156 of the Law on higher education adopted in March 2008, the status of the new Student parliament is defined only as an organ of the students. Detailed functions, structure, elections and funding of the Parliament are left for every university to proscribe by internal regulations until December 31st 2008. The practice of transformation of one of the main Student Unions (at the University “Sts Cyril and Methodius” in Skopje) demonstrated that a stronger authority of the university administration and government is needed in this area. The Student Union did not organize elections. Instead they amended their registration in the Central Registry Office in Macedonia and changed their organization from “student union” to “student parliament”. This creates a false image of democratic student representation and undermines the students’ position 113

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for advocating their rights and interests. This fight between students and nontransparent student elite continues; the results will be seen until the end of 2008 when new student elections are scheduled. The allocation of dormitory beds is also a common type of corruption. Instead basing the allocation on student merit or chance, delimited with very strict written criteria and enforced in practice, beds are distributed at the discretion of a Decision Board. Obtaining a bed has become a privilege for those politically and personally affiliated with the Board, or to a political party in power. According to the 2003 FOSIM Survey, nearly two thirds of the students hold that specified criteria are not the main guidance in the allocation of beds. Thirty five percent claim that “money, favours and connections” are the main criteria for allocation, 29% have no idea what the criteria are. On the other hand only 5% of the students have impression that the allocation is performed through a regular procedure. This reflects the level of mistrust in the allocation system and leaves a large space for corrupt behaviour. The situation has improved over the last year because the government has introduced a so-called electronic allocation system. However, this is only the beginning and still showed flaws in the system due to the great discretion of the Student Centre and Decision Board. Scholarships and student credits granted by the Ministry of Education and Science have also been a subject of public scrutiny. Many doubt the regularity of the granting process. Each year, the Ministry of Education and Science organizes a call for applications to grant scholarship and student credits. These are loans to support students with financial problems with a stipend of 50 Euro/month. Even though the process has written criteria, these awards are granted on the basis of vaguely documented decisions by the Board. Every second student claims that scholarships and loans are irregularly granted. Most often, they claim, they granted on bases of “personal acquaintance and connections” (27%) or with “money and connections” (19%). Only 31% thought that the Ministry of Education and Science was granting these awards on the basis of regular procedures. Illegitimate and immoral tutorials constitute relatively speaking a “new trend” in educational manipulation in which both students and professors are involved. Especially among the technological and natural sciences where personal tutoring is necessary (and common in Macedonia), private tutoring is organized and offered by the professors for students they teach in their regular classes. This is a direct conflict of interest in part because students who can pay acquire a beneficial status over the others. Plagiarism is elaborated in the detail of many procedures and laws but these are rarely enforced. Two-way plagiarism is common in the relations between professors and students. Students may rewrite books of a professor or other scholars and use them as their graduation or course papers without properly citing the sources. On the other hand, professors sometimes use student course work or graduation papers as work of their own. No such case was officially detected by the authorities, but the lack of control on this issue creates allows room for manipulation and corruptive behavior.

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Exam cheating is wide-spread form of corruption. Either cheating by taking study materials into a closed-book exam or having phone support during the exam is included in this category. Exams are sometimes stolen for re-sale to students. Five cases of this kind were discovered at the Faculty of Law in Skopje. This demonstrates a lack of consciousness and awareness among the students about the importance of the regularity of the educational system and the exam process. Some of the so called “trivial” forms of corruption include manipulation of the administrative procedures and paperwork and the assignment of student desks. More common are the following: – Exam applications submitted after the deadline, – Illegitimately obtaining a professor’s signature of attendance, – Illegitimately registering for a new semester. Many of these flaws could be resolved through the European credit transfer system (discussed below). RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE STUDENTS FOR RESOLVING THE PROBLEMS

Student organizations have been organizing round tables in which students drafted general recommendations about fighting corruption. The result of the Student Conference “Students for themselves” organized in 2004, 2005 and 2006 these general key messages were sent to all the stakeholders: – Increasing transparency in the work of the high education institutions and student official representatives, – Dedication to the problems and needs of the students to equip them with larger self-confidence, – Fair student elections and pluralism in representation – De monopolization of the exam literature with wide range of book choice, – Limiting the sale of exam literature to commercial legal entities – Transparent procedures for penalizing the cases of corruption provided by the government and the universities, – Organizing public campaigns for raising awareness among stakeholders – Encouraging the students and parents to report corruption on a regular basis with detailed information – Proper protection of the victims of corruption by the government institutions and university administrations – Effective response to each report of corruption – Requiring a code of ethics and conduct for students and academic staff – Definition of well drafted exam regulation – Promotion of student activism (pluralism of ideas and actions), – Maintenance of hot line for reporting of corruption cases. Between 2003-2007 the Youth Educational Forum created a special student program that investigated and researched cases of corruption and trends of development. At the outset of 2008 the student program presented a plan of “Measures and tools for disabling the corruption in higher education” that

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presented structural reforms and specific measures of legal and practical nature for improving the anticorruption climate and attitude of the system in general. STRUCTURAL REFORMS

Structural reforms of the system demand intervention in different legal and social areas. The most important is an amendment to the law on higher education. Several areas need to be defined more precisely. These include: (i) the need for a professional accreditation agency, (ii) an evaluation of the exam system, (iii) student participation in the management of educational institutions, (iv) protection of student rights and interests, (v) the establishment of an effective ombudsman, and (v) a student parliament. Next would be internal regulations of universities, and in particular the matter of a student ombudsman. This office should be constructed so that it can address the needs of students and the proper protection of their rights and interests. Structural reforms must be followed by public campaigns focusing on the legal, social, moral, practical and educational aspects of corruption and all of its faces. These campaigns will make the legal and social instruments for fighting corruption more operational. At the same time they will augment confidence among the stakeholders – government, universities, academic staff and the students. SPECIFIC MEASURES FOR PREVENTION AND DISCOVERY OF THE CORRUPTION CASES

In considering the issues that should be stressed and shaped differently in the Law on higher education, the Youth Educational Forum proposed several principles and measures for general regulation of different issues. The question of a student parliament is one of the most important. This position on a student parliament arose from student representatives. The functions and structures of an effective parliament will help protect students from both internal or external pressure and abuse. Amendment II Students should participate in educational management, especially on issues related to corruption, the quality of the academic performance and student standards. Amendment VI Official organs of a university should include a university senate, university council, rector, rector directorate and student parliament.

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Amendment IX The number of the student representatives in the rector directorate should not be smaller than 20% of the total number of the members of this body. The student parliament defines the procedure for delegation of student representatives in the rector directorate. Amendment X The student parliament should be responsible for the protection and advocacy of student rights and the interests. The work of the student parliament is regulated by its internal rules. The student parliament consists of directly elected representatives of the students from the student organizations and independent student candidates. At the end of every term, the president will prepare financial and narrative report on the work of the parliament and propose its adoption by the parliament. Amendment XIII Universities and independent higher educational institutes should conduct an internal self-evaluation and quality assessment pertaining to their courses of study and academic programs, the performance of instructors and working conditions. The internal self-evaluation should be conducted at least once in three years. In the procedure of this evaluation the findings and assessment from students should be taken into consideration. The Position of the Student Ombudsman in the System of Higher Education The student ombudsman should be an independent organ with proper legal structures. It is recommended that ombudsman should have a Bachelor in Laws (LLB) and should not be a student or a university professor. The engagement of the student ombudsman should be on a full-time professional basis. To work efficiently, the student ombudsman should hire one or more deputies to support his work. The competencies of the student ombudsman should be parallel with those of the public ombudsman. If students feel that their rights or interests have been violated by a professor or the university administration they should address the ombudsman for reaction. The student ombudsman may then address the university or faculty authorities directly and undertake the necessary measures for protection of the students. If the heads of the universities and the professors fail to cooperate the ombudsman may use legal measures to address the problem. Quick and efficient reaction of the student ombudsman and the university authorities will create confidence among the students and will notify authorities that they are being scrutinized during their work.

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The student ombudsman should be financed from the budget of the university. Transparent and accountable work of the student ombudsman will be reflected through the duties for submission of financial and narrative reports to the university authorities, student Parliaments and published on general website. The Exam Regulation The criteria for use on examinations must be transparent and distributed to students at the beginning of the academic year. Student participation is necessary for this process to be effective. Student participation encourages and supports the learning process and develops a sense of closeness the assessment criteria. This enhances the understanding of what is expected from and helps them benefit from the examination outcome. The information package for the students should contain: a) detailed working and studying plan with the schedule of classes and table of activities b) outcome of the learning process, what is expected by the students and at what level of academic excellence, c) the normal workload of the students in each course and the number of ECTS credits per activity, d) obligatory books, readers and manuals, e) examination and assessment criteria including the methods of assessment (forms of examination, duration, samples, conditions for objection or claim, penalties for cheating, etc.), f) Open hours of the professors and their associates, g) The conditions for entering next stage of the studies and resit of exams, h) Public announcements of the exam results. On the question of requiring book purchases, every course should have a list of the required literature, additional literature, and useful links. The course list should include where the literature can be purchased or obtained in the university library. Professors should be prohibited from selling the literature directly. The copyrights of the scholars and authors of the books should be protected according to the law. After every exam, the professor should be obliged to explain the marks, the positive and negative aspects of the student’s work and help direct the student for future improvement. THE EUROPEAN CREDIT TRANSFER SYSTEM (ECTS)

One hope for a solution to the problems mentioned in this paper is the European credit transfer system introduced through the Bologna process and Bologna Declaration (established in 1999). The purpose of the process is to adopt compatible credits and degrees within European Higher Education area based on same high-level standards.

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This process was adopted by Macedonia in 2003 and is ongoing. In some institutions the implementation is slow. This is the case with respect to regulations pertaining to student mobility, criteria for assessment, an improvement in the success rate, the quality of the academic program and access to exam questions. And there is resistance from some academic staff who are used to the outdated methods and standards. Therefore it is of crucial importance that both the government and the university administrations persist in implementing the Bologna process and adhere to the stated deadlines by the end of 2009. REFERENCES Foundation Open Society Institute Macedonia (2003). Corruption in the higher education in the Republic of Macedonia. Official Report by the Institute for Sociological, Legal and Political Sciences in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia Korunovska, N. & Danilovska, D. (2007). Wall of silence: One year later. Foundation Open Society Institute Macedonia, electronic version under license of Creative Commons, non commercial 2.5 Macedonia. Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia (2008). Law on higher education, Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No. 35/2008 and 103/2008. Youth Educational Forum (2006). Model regulations about the exam regulation, code of conduct, code of ethics and conflict of interest acts for the purpose of the anticorruption student network in South Eastern Europe. Youth Educational Forum (2008). Analysis of the national regulation considering the student representation before the university authorities, protection their rights and interests and anticorruption measures. Official report. Zabrcanec, M. & Maricik, B (2003). Annual report of the anticorruption activities of the Youth Educational Forum in 2003. Official report. Zabrcanec, M. & Maricik, B (2004). Annual report of the anticorruption activities of the Youth Educational Forum in 2004. Official report. Zabrcanec, M. & Maricik, B (2005). Annual report of the anticorruption activities of the Youth Educational Forum in 2005. Official report. Zabrcanec, M. & Maricik, B (2006). Annual report of the anticorruption activities of the Youth Educational Forum in 2006. Official report. Zabrcanec, M. & Maricik, B. (2007). Annual report of the anticorruption activities of the Youth Educational Forum in 2007. Official report.

AFFILIATIONS

Bojan Maricik Youth Educational Forum Skopje Macedonia

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THE EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION AREA AS AN INSTRUMENT OF TRANSPARENCY?

THE EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION AREA: ORIGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS

The European Higher Education Area (EHEA) is a thing of the future, not only because it is a promising development but also because it will not formally come into being until 2010. 46 European countries are currently engaged in the Bologna Process (Bologna Process web site), which is intended to lead to establishing the EHEA by 2010.1 The Bologna Process was launched in 1999, so the project to establish a European Higher Education Area will last for more than a decade. It constitutes the most far reaching reform of higher education in Europe since at least the immediate aftermath of 1968, but there is an important difference. “1968” was a movement from below, in which students took to the streets to demand reform of higher education as well as changes in society. “Bologna” was launched by Ministers of Education, who vowed to reform higher education in response to changes in society. However, it is no easier to reform higher education without leaving ministry offices than it is to do so without leaving the streets. The Bologna Process takes some of its unique characteristics from this basic fact. The EHEA is a cooperation process not only between 46 countries but also between Ministries, higher education institutions, students and faculty. Public authorities have a much stronger role in devising higher education policies in Europe than they do in North America, but European higher education institutions nevertheless have strong institutional autonomy – the principles of which are outlined in the Magna Charta Universitatum adopted by university rectors in Bologna in 1988 – and university autonomy is one of the underlying principles of the EHEA. Public financing remains a cornerstone of European higher education, even if few higher education institutions can now realize their ambitions through direct public funding alone. European integration after World War II has been carried out in the framework of intergovernmental organizations and institutions, in particular the European Union and the Council of Europe. Both contribute substantially to the creation of the EHEA, as do UNESCO and a number of non-governmental organizations, not –––––––––––––– 1 It is significant that the title of the Praha Communiqué (2001) is “Towards the European Higher Education Area”.

S.P. Heyneman (ed.), Buying Your Way into Heaven, 121–134. © 2009 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

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least those representing higher education institutions, faculty and students. Nevertheless, the Bologna Process is an independent process, initiated and run by its members and consultative members. There is every indication that the EHEA will be a separate construction not linked to any existing organization and probably with a structure loose enough to question whether the EHEA will be an “organization” in the proper – and even in the legal – sense of the term. When the Bologna Process was launched in 1999, it included 29 countries. The Bologna meeting followed a smaller meeting in 1998, where the Ministers of Education of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom met for the 800th anniversary of the Sorbonne and signed the Sorbonne Declaration. The Bologna meeting was, in part, an answer to the frustration of several countries that the four largest countries had adopted what was perceived as an important declaration without consulting other EU members. Twenty-eight of the countries that signed the Bologna Declaration were members of the European Union or of the European Economic Area, or they were party to a relevant EU higher education program. The 29th country was Switzerland, which had chosen not to join the European Economic Area but whose higher education institutions were closely involved in European cooperation. That Liechtenstein was not included in the Bologna Process from the outset seems to have been an oversight. Liechtenstein was discretely included in the ministerial meeting in Praha in 2001, which admitted another three countries to the Process. The most significant change came in Berlin in 2003, however, when 7 new countries joined the Bologna Process. It was not only the number of new members that was unprecedented, but above all the scope of membership. For the first time, countries that had no formal relation to the EU or its higher education programs joined, and the European Cultural Convention (Council of Europe, 1954) – developed by the Council of Europe – was accepted as the institutional framework for the Bologna Process. In addition to being parties to the European Cultural Convention, new members were required to commit in writing to the goals of the Bologna Process and to submit reports backing up their application. The change came about for several reasons, but the most weighty reason was that it would have been politically impossible to turn down the Russian application for membership for the purely formal reason that Russia was not a party to the relevant EU programs. Clearly, a process that aspired to establish a European Higher Education Area could not make it impossible, on purely formal grounds, for a number of European countries to join. The Bologna Process became truly European in Bergen in 2005, when a further five countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine – joined. The 46th country joined in London in 2007, and this was again a special case. Montenegro was a part of the Bologna Process as a part of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro and was required to rejoin after it declared independence in June 2006. Since the London meeting, Monaco and San Marino have indicated an interest in joining the Bologna process. If they submit formal applications, these will be considered at the next ministerial meeting, to be held in Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve in April 2009.

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THE EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION AREA: ISSUES IN 2010

In some ways, the Ministers who met in Bologna in 1999 had an “easy” task: they could set policy goals for the future and although identifying the goals was a challenge, they did not need to be immediately concerned with how their goals could be attained. Nine years after the Bologna meeting, we have almost reached the deadline the Ministers set, and that of course raises the question of whether the goals have been reached. Are we in a position to establish the European Higher Education Area as planned? At the same time, 2010 will provide an opportunity to define new goals as the European Higher Education Area comes into being. This time, Ministers will need to look at what in historical terms is the recent past as well as the near future. Structural Reform: Quality, Qualifications and Recognition In looking at the recent past, Ministers will above all consider what their countries have achieved in terms of structural reform alone. Even if the Bologna Process should not be reduced to a set of structural reforms, the three issues of quality assurance, qualifications frameworks/degree structures and the recognition of qualifications have clearly been a key part of the Process. The most universally acknowledged achievement of the Bologna Process is the transformation of all degree systems in Europe into three cycles, often referred to as bachelor – masters – doctoral degrees. Since 2005, these reforms have been situated in the broader context of developing qualifications frameworks (Bologna Process web site qualifications frameworks). These describe all qualifications within an education or higher education system and how they articulate, i.e. how learners may move between qualifications in a system. They should also emphasize learning outcomes – what a learner knows, understands and is able to do on the basis of a qualification – over the procedures or learning paths through which a qualification has been obtained. Internationally, qualifications frameworks should make it easier for learners to move from one system to another. Countries have committed to developing national qualifications frameworks compatible with the overarching framework of qualifications of the European Higher Education Area by 2010. In quality assurance, the policy discussion has largely focused on external quality assurance, even if there seems to be an increasing understanding of the importance of the quality development pursued within each higher education institution. Since the Bologna Process is ultimately the responsibility of public authorities, however, the focus on external quality assurance is understandable, and it has given rise to two significant developments. In 2005, Ministers adopted the European Quality Assurance Standards (European Quality Assurance Standards 2005), which spell out guidelines and criteria for external quality assurance within the European Higher Education Area. On March 4, 2008, the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education was established (European Quality Assurance Register). As of mid-July 2008, the EQAR had 29 members, of which 23 were governments, while the remaining six were the four founders (ENQA – the 123

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European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education,, EUA – the European University Association, EURASHE – the European Association for Institutions in Higher Education and ESU – the European Student Union) and the two social partners (Education International and Business Europe). The Ministers of the Bologna Process clearly support the setting up of the EQAR, and the BFUG has elected five observers to the Register Committee. These arrangements have been made to allow public authorities a measure of insight into the register but without interfering with its operation or indeed its decisions on the inclusion of specific agencies. Therefore, governments cannot exert pressure to have their national quality assurance agencies approved. In terms of recognition of qualifications, the Council of Europe/UNESCO Recognition Convention (Council of Europe/UNESCO 1997), which was adopted in 1997, is the only legally binding text of the Bologna Process, even if it was adopted two years before the Process was launched and is also open to a number of countries that are not members of the EHEA.2 The main thrust of the Convention is that it stipulates that foreign qualifications should be fairly assessed without regard to factors other than those pertaining to the qualification concerned, and that recognition should be granted unless the competent recognition authority can demonstrate that there is a substantial difference between the qualification for which recognition is sought and the comparable qualification of the country in which recognition is sought. This means that factors such as the origin, citizenship, convictions and opinions or the social status of the holder of the qualification are irrelevant to the recognition of the qualification. Broadening the Agenda As the Bologna Process approaches 2010, Ministers will need both to complete the agenda of structural reform and to set new goals for the EHEA. While it was perhaps natural that the Bologna Process was inward looking in its earliest phase, from 2004 onward there has been an increasing understanding of the fact that the reforms in Europe also impact on the relationship between Europe and higher education in other parts of the world. The “external dimension of the Bologna Process” was highlighted in the Bergen Communiqué in 2005, and in 2007 Ministers adopted a strategy, this time with the more felicitous title “the European Higher Education Area in a Global Setting” (Bologna Process web site global dimension). At the same time, there was also explicit reference to the social dimension of the EHEA, which encompasses issues of social equity and equal opportunity (Bergen Communiqué 2005),3 even if in this area no specific strategy –––––––––––––– 2 See Section 11 of the Convention. As of July 15, 2008, Australia, Belarus, Canada, Israel, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, New Zealand and the United States had either ratified or signed the Convention but were not members of the Bologna Process. 3 The Bergen Communiqué states: “The social dimension of the Bologna Process is a constituent part of the EHEA and a necessary condition for the attractiveness and competitiveness of the EHEA. We therefore renew our commitment to making quality higher education equally accessible to all, and stress the need for appropriate conditions for students so that they can complete their studies without obstacles related to their social and economic background”.

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or policy document has been adopted as a result following the activity of a working group. The debate on the further development of the EHEA beyond 2010 was launched in earnest at a conference in Gent in May 2008 (Bologna Process web site Gent) and then discussed by the BFUG at an extraordinary meeting in Sarajevo in June 2008,4 but both areas described in the preceding paragraph are likely to be key areas of future concern. They are relevant to this article because they illustrate both a widening of the focus of the EHEA and at the same time how this focus is likely to extend to areas where it will be more difficult to define measurable objectives or even to stick to the methodology that has characterized the Bologna Process during its first decade, i.e. define the main policy goals at European level and implement them nationally. The discussion around the global dimension of the EHEA illustrates this well. It is clear that the structural reforms undertaken in the first decade of the Bologna Process will contribute to giving greater coherence to the diverse higher education systems in Europe. All national qualifications will relate to an overarching qualifications framework, and quality assurance will be carried out in keeping with common guidelines. Nevertheless, some countries – especially those that already export higher education programs abroad or host a high number of non-EU (and hence fee-paying)5 students – wish to preserve a higher education profile of their own. As the most obvious example, United Kingdom authorities and institutions want to continue to market their services as UK higher education rather than as a part of the EHEA. Likewise, attitudes to the role of higher education in furthering equal opportunities and social cohesion vary, as do the possibilities of countries within the EHEA to implement measures in this area. This also points to the need to consider the public responsibility for higher education and the link between higher education policies and other areas of public policy. The Ministers of the Bologna Process have twice, in 2001 and 2003, stated that higher education is a “public good and a public responsibility”. The operational part of that statement concerns public responsibility, and the fact that it was repeated in two successive Ministerial communiqués indicates that Ministers feel this key principle of European higher education is under threat. As it develops beyond 2010, the EHEA will need to give closer consideration to how the responsibility of public authorities for higher education should be exercised in modern, complex societies with a considerable variety of actors. These reflections should build on the work already undertaken by the Council of Europe (Council of Europe 2007; Weber & Bergan 2005).

–––––––––––––– 4 This was the first time the BFUG met outside of the country holding the rotating EU – and hence Bologna – Presidency or hosting the following Ministerial conference. 5 Under EU regulations, countries cannot charge higher study fees of students from other EU countries than they do of students from their own country.

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Transparency as a Goal in the Bologna Process Transparency has been an objective of the Bologna Process from its earliest days, but in the sense of making European higher education systems easier to understand (Bologna Declaration 1999).6 In the Berlin Communiqué, transparency is mentioned in the same sentence as the need to improve quality (Berlin Communiqué 2003).7 It is more than doubtful, however, if the Ministers had in mind a broader sense of the term “transparency”, i.e. the one that has “corruption” as its negative twin. This is clearly a politically difficult issue to tackle in a relatively loosely organized process that depends on national implementation of common goals and that defines the common goals largely through consensus, albeit with a precedent for the exercise of peer pressure. At the same time, corruption could impact on the reputation of European higher education in other parts of the world and hence on the EHEA in a global context. It could have a negative effect on the role of higher education in furthering equal opportunities and social cohesion. Not least, corruption can only be tackled if public authorities take a leading role in combating it, even if the cooperation of higher education institutions, students and faculty is also needed. Hence, all three areas identified in the brief discussion of the broadening of the agenda of the EHEA above are relevant to the role of corruption in the EHEA. CORRUPTION: WHAT, WHERE AND HOW?8

Corruption may be understood as providing a public service in return for private gain. The example that immediately comes to mind is that of a professor allowing a student to pass an exam for which the student is unqualified – or in which the student obtains a better grade than warranted by his or her real achievements – against payment. In other words, the professor sells a “successful” exam and thereby cheats students who have genuinely passed the exam and future employers and others who might rely on the diplomas certifying illegitimate qualifications. Corruption is not necessarily linked to illicit monetary reward. It may also be linked to favors and services, ranging from “helping” children of family members pass exams through “helping” children of public officials who may in turn “help” with building permits or other administrative decisions to allowing students to pass in exchange for what is inappropriately called “sexual favors”.

–––––––––––––– 6 “Adoption of a system of easily readable and comparable degrees, also through the implementation of the Diploma Supplement, in order to promote European citizens employability and the international competitiveness of the European higher education system” (bold face in the original). 7 “Ministers welcome the various initiatives undertaken since the Prague Higher Education Summit to move towards more comparability and compatibility, to make higher education systems more transparent and to enhance the quality of European higher education at institutional and national levels”. 8 For this section, I draw in particular on discussions in a seminar on “Transparency and Governance in Higher Education” organized by the European Training Foundation in Torino on January 8–9, 2008, and above all on the contributions by Stephen P. Heyneman.

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These reasons lead us to a broader definition of corruption in education. Stephen P. Heyneman puts forward the following definition: Corruption in public affairs includes the abuse of authority for material gain. But because education is an important public good, professional standards include more than just material goods, hence the definition of education corruption includes the abuse of authority for both personal as well as material gain. An education system can be corrupt in four ways: (i) through its education functions, (ii) through the supply of goods and services, (iii) through professional misconduct, and (iv) in the treatment of taxation and property. (Heyneman, 2007) András Sajó distinguishes between corruption, in which several parts may benefit, and cheating, in which only the malefactor benefits (Sajó, 2007). In the public mind, the link between corruption and illicit private monetary gain is far stronger than the definitions given in dictionaries, which define corrupt as “immoral, perverted, depraved”, “marked by venality or dishonesty”, “decaying, putrid”, “impure, contaminated, unclean” or ”containing errors or alterations, as a text, debased”.9 While some of the definitions apply to more physical contexts than ours, the absence of a definition clearly linking corruption and money is surprising. “Corruption” may therefore be taken to cover what is sometimes cryptically referred to as “lack of transparency”, such as the falsification of research results; individual teachers, departments or institutions giving weak students the lowest passing grade rather than a failing grade in order to maintain program or institutional funding in results based budget systems in which appropriations depend on the number of successful graduates within a stipulated time rather than on student numbers; or other activities that can debase – or appear to debase – the value of academic achievements and qualifications. Within the confines of this article it will not be possible to distinguish carefully between various types of lack of transparency, but it is nevertheless useful to point to the complexity of the issue. It would be audacious to declare any country or any institution free of corruption (see Heyneman, 2007; Heyneman, Anderson, & Nuraliyeva, 2008; Barblan, Daxner, & Ivošević, 2007; Badrawi et al., 2007), and Norway and South Korea are among the countries that have seen cases of large scale falsification of research results in recent years. In at least the Norwegian case, the falsification also invalidated the data on which a doctoral student had built her dissertation. She was at an advanced stage of her doctoral studies and seems to have had no way of knowing that the results were falsified. Nevertheless, there is fairly solid evidence that lack of transparency in higher education is a particularly urgent issue in a number of the countries emanating from the former Soviet Union as well as in some countries of South East Europe. Vanja Ivošević rightly points out that corruption is not limited to these countries (Ivošević, 2007; see also Vukasović, 2007), but the issue is real. To their credit, some governments – perhaps most prominently those of Albania and Georgia – –––––––––––––– 9 The definitions have been taken from The Illustrated Heritage Dictionary and Information Book (Boston 1977: Houghton-Mifflin).

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have made the fight against corruption in education an important part of their program. THE IMPACT OF CORRUPTION ON THE EHEA AS A BRAND NAME

One of the issues of the “post 2010 Bologna debate” is the extent to which the European Higher Education Area will function as a brand name. This may come about intentionally, through a conscious strategy, or unintentionally, as important actors inside and outside of the EHEA begin to see the EHEA as an indication of the coherence of its national systems without specific prodding by those in charge of the systems. As should be clear from the reference to the discussion of the global dimension of the Bologna Process, above, there is unlikely to be any strategy aiming to replace national brands by an EHEA brand. The EHEA is a framework within which national systems develop and competent national authorities coordinate policies, but – as referred to in the discussion of the global dimension of the EHEA above – there is no intention to supplant national systems. Even if there is no “brand name” strategy for the EHEA, however, one medium term effect of the EHEA is likely to be a certain convergence or at least spillover of reputation. In both political and real terms, it will be difficult for some countries within the EHEA to claim that even if there is an attempt to coordinate policies in key areas of structural reform as well as of practice, this has no impact on the overall performance of the higher education systems involved. This would come close to either admitting failure, to lowering ambitions or to try to have the best of both worlds. For qualifications earned at any institution within the EHEA to be valid throughout the Area, there needs to be sufficient coherence between systems and institutions. If there were to be a perception that a number of EHEA members are plagued by corruption, this would, in my view, either imply that other members would need to take safeguards in terms of recognizing qualifications from the institutions or countries concerned, or it would reflect badly on the whole Area10 – or both. It is difficult to see how the impact of widespread occurrence of corruption in parts of the EHEA could be limited to the countries concerned without other EHEA members taking action either to demand reforms or to temporarily suspend the recognition of qualification and participation in cooperation arrangements such as student exchanges and joint degrees. Such action would, however, be politically difficult to undertake, and they could strain relations within the Area. The price of not reacting could nevertheless be even higher, and it is an additional problem that perceptions may matter more than realities. Even if the problem were addressed, the perception of corruption could linger for years.

–––––––––––––– 10 For a stronger view of the impact of corruption on the whole EHEA, see Heyneman (2007), who refers to the possible inclusion of corrupt countries in the Bologna Process as “the educational equivalent…of unilateral disarmament”.

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THE BROADER IMPACT OF CORRUPTION: THE EHEA AS AN AREA OF CIVIC COMPETENCE THROUGH HIGHER EDUCATION

The most significant impact of corruption is perhaps not the direct damage caused through distorted services (Heyneman 2004). Not least in education, the most damaging effect of corruption may well be the signal it sends. If corruption is not addressed and if those engaging in it are not punished, students could easily draw the conclusion that corruption is the road to success. Those with moral scruples may see corruption as a necessary evil, while those unencumbered by a clear moral compass may conclude that corruption is the easiest way to succeed, and one without danger at that. For European societies, this would be a very serious consequence of corruption in education. The most important task of education, at all levels, is to form the citizens of tomorrow. Education must provide learners not only with the technical competences needed in our societies but also with the attitudes and integrity needed to put their technical competences to good use. One of the main goals of the Bologna Process is to move from a strong focus on the formal education process to a focus on these results, commonly referred to as learning outcomes. These are normally referred to as describing what a learner knows, understands and is able to do on the basis of the qualification earned. For my part, I would add attitudes to the definition, unless attitudes are subsumed in our concept of understanding. The issue of corruption serves to underline that education is about much more than just knowledge. One may learn how to be corrupt, but education should also provide learners with the understanding of the implications of corruption on the lives of individuals as well as on the fabric of society, and education should provide learners with the attitudes needed to reject corruption. Education should not only help learners know Kant’s categorical imperative – act in such a way that your actions could serve as the basis of a law – but also with the understanding and attitudes to put the dictum into practice in their own lives. Much of the public debate on education today is focused on its economic role and seems to ignore that preparation for the labor market is only one of the purposes of education, albeit an important one. It is worth recalling the four major purposes of education as defined by the Council of Europe (Bergan, 2005; Council of Europe, 2007): – preparation for sustainable employment; – preparation for life as active citizens in democratic societies; – personal development: – the development and maintenance of a broad, advanced knowledge base. The four major purposes of education may perhaps be summarized into one, as the Chilean sociologist Eugenio Tironi has done. According to Tironi, the answer to the question “what kind of education do we need?” is to be found in the answer to another question: “what kind of society do we want?” (Tironi, 2005). Students who learn today through their educational experience that corruption is the fast track to success are unlikely to act in a way tomorrow that will give us the kind of society in which we would like to live. Corruption in any field is harmful, but corruption in education is perhaps even more damaging to the well being of our 129

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societies than corruption in other areas. If there is corruption in the EHEA, the impact will extend well beyond the world of higher education policy. POSSIBLE PATHS FORWARD

If the success and reputation of the European Higher Education Area are likely to be affected if some of its members lack in transparency, the EHEA also has a number of instruments that should be of use in fighting corruption. Three areas seem to stand out in this respect. Quality Assurance The most significant instrument is perhaps the European Quality Assurance Register (EQAR) referred to above. It operates on the basis of the European Quality Assurance Standards adopted by Ministers in 2005, and it aims to become the reference register for higher education in Europe. The register will not be limited to European quality assurance agencies, but if the EQAR is successful, it will be difficult for any quality assurance agency – whether based in Europe or not – to operate credibly within the European Higher Education Area if it is not included in the register. In the same way, it will be difficult for any institution to deliver credible qualifications if it has not been positively assessed by an agency that is included in the register. It is too early to say whether the EQAR, which was formally established only in March 2008, will succeed but the potential is there. Quality assurance agencies represent one aspect of the current strong concern for quality, and it is complemented by internal quality assurance. This should perhaps rather be referred to as quality development, as it refers to the continuous work every institution should conduct to maintain and improve its own quality. Educational quality is not like riding a bicycle – once acquired, the skill is rarely lost except in the case of serious health problems – but rather like the ability to speak a foreign language: if it is not practiced regularly, it diminishes fast, it is recovered only with considerable effort and it may ultimately disappear. One of the strengths of the EHEA is the strong involvement of higher education institutions as well as of their two main representative organizations, the European University Association and EURASHE. Both organizations have quality as one of their main objectives, and the EUA has been running a program developing a quality culture at member institutions for years. Incidentally, both are also strongly involved, with the European Student Union and ENQA, in the development and running of the EQAR. Membership of the EUA and EURASHE is voluntary, but they have both emerged as reference organization for their respective institutional target groups. Hence, the potential for both organizations to exercise peer pressure in the case of corrupt institutional practices is very considerable, and both organizations should consider making such practices a reason for suspending membership.

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Qualifications Qualifications frameworks are, as we have seen, intended to provide a more transparent description of the qualifications making up an education system and to facilitate the recognition of qualifications in other countries (or more accurately, at least in the case of academic recognition, in other systems). Qualifications frameworks, and in particular recognition, are potent anti-corruption instruments. A qualification may be seen as being made up of five components (Bergan, 2007): – quality; – workload; – level; – profile; – learning outcomes. The Council of Europe/UNESCO Recognition Convention postulates that foreign qualifications be recognized unless the competent recognition authority can demonstrate a substantial difference between the qualification for which recognition is sought and the corresponding qualification of the host country. If a qualification has been obtained through corruption, this is clearly a “substantial difference” in terms of quality and hence a strong reason to refuse recognition. In addition, submitting a false qualification may be a criminal offense if the applicant does so in bad faith, and more countries now seem to pursue such applicants through their court systems11. If an institution or a country were to be widely seen as corrupt, the implication could be that recognition would generally be withheld in other countries, even for students who have earned their qualifications legitimately. This would be unfortunate in terms of individual justice but it would also be a strong sign that corruption will not be tolerated and will have negative consequences. A Community of Practice The third area of particular importance is the function of the EHEA as a community of practice. Peer pressure may be informal, but it tends to work if applied consistently and in adequate doses. The fact that the EHEA is based on cooperation between governments, institutions, students and faculty, and international organizations should strengthen the potential for peer pressure. Students and their organizations play an important role in this respect, not only because students are directly affected by corruption but also because students are members of the governing bodies of European higher education institutions and because their organizations should – and do – play an important role in educating students about the implications of corruption (Popović, 2007). Faculty organizations could play a similar role. –––––––––––––– 11 This is at last my impression from observing discussions and exchanges within the ENIC and NARIC Networks.

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However, students and faculty cannot be expected to fight corruption alone, and the role of the representative organizations of higher education institutions has already been referred to. Governments, which ultimately govern the EHEA, must also play a key role in making and keeping the Area corruption free. This is politically delicate, and those of us not in government should recognize that it is not easy for a Minister of Education to accuse a European colleague of being in charge of a corrupt system. It is nevertheless necessary for Ministers to do so, and they can take their cue from some members of the EHEA that have had the courage to address the issue in their domestic contexts. Even if the EHEA is not strongly institutionalized, the potential for peer pressure is considerable. The danger of being branded as corrupt or tolerating corruption by one’s ministerial peers should be a potent weapon, but it may possibly have to be used at least once to be credible. Ministers will also need to consider whether serious and sustained non-compliance with key goals of the EHEA should not have consequences for the country concerned, and if so, it is difficult to see how corruption in education could be excluded from the list of potential problems. By consequences, I do not necessarily mean exclusion, although this possibility may be a last resort. Possible consequences of corruption could also be receiving offers of assistance to reform one’s system, being encouraged to put forward an anticorruption plan or otherwise being identified by one’s peers. The cooperation between stakeholders in the EHEA also extends to international organizations. International governmental institutions and organizations, such as the Council of Europe, UNESCO and the European Union, are well placed to help ministries and institutions fight corruption if the issue is recognized as well as to develop broader guidelines. For political reasons, they are perhaps less well placed than some non-governmental organizations to identify corruption where if recalcitrant governments were to prefer complacency or were even themselves to be involved in corruption. In these cases, organizations like the EUA, EURASHE, ESU and ENQA as well as an organization like the Magna Charta Observatory could play an important role. TOWARD A CONCLUSION

Persistent corruption will be harmful above all to the institutions and countries directly concerned. It does, however, also have the potential to harm other members of the European Higher Education Area, and the potential is likely to increase with the success of the EHEA because a successful EHEA will mean that it will be seen as something of a brand name encompassing its members, even if the 46 countries that currently make up the EHEA will not lose or give up the identity of their higher education systems and traditions. The elements that make corruption in some members a danger to all do, however, also provide the EHEA with potent instruments to fight corruption. Quality assurance and the recognition of qualifications are perhaps the most potent instruments, but they rely upon political will in the community of practice that is the EHEA. The diversity of this community of practice is another potent 132

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instruments, because the different actors – institutions, students, staff, governments and international governmental and non-governmental organizations – should be able to complement each other. Each of them has the potential to play a role the others will find it difficult to play. These strong potential instruments make success in fighting corruption possible, but it should not be taken for granted. Fighting corruption will require vigilance as well as political courage and will. However, not fighting corruption should ultimately be a far less attractive option, as it could tarnish the reputation of the whole EHEA and, more seriously, make it very difficult to build the kind of societies in which we will want to live. Fighting corruption is a battle, but it is a battle that can be won, if the will is there. The EHEA, with its strong component of stakeholder cooperation, should be as potent a transparency instrument as any. REFERENCES Badrawi, H., Barblan, A., Daxner, M., Finch, L., Geven, K., Popović, M., Sajó, A., & Vukasović, M. (2007). The management of university integrity. Bologna: Bononia University Press/Magna Charta Observatory. Bergan, S. (2005). Higher education as a “public good and a public responsibility”: What does it mean? In Weber, L. & Bergan, S. (Eds.), The public responsibility for higher education and research (pp. 13-28). Bergan, S. (2007). Qualifications. Introduction to a concept. Council of Europe Higher Education Series No. 6. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing. Bergen Communiqué (2005). http://www.bologna-bergen2005.no/Docs/00-Main_doc/ 050520_Bergen_ Communique.pdf Berlin Communiqué 2003. http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/bologna/documents/MDC/ Berlin_Communique1.pdf Bologna Declaration (1999) . http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/bologna/documents/MDC/ BOLOGNA_DECLARATION1.pdf Bologna Process web site http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/bologna/ Bologna Process web site Gent http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/bologna/ BolognaSeminars/Ghent2008.htm Bologna Process web site global dimension http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/bologna/ ActionLines/global_setting.htm (with further links to key documents) Bologna Process web site qualifications frameworks http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/ bologna/qf/qf.asp Council of Europe (1954). European Cultural Convention http://conventions.coe.int/; search for ETS 018. Council of Europe (2007). Recommendation Rec (2007) 6 by the Committee of Ministers to member states on the public responsibility for higher education and research, available at http://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1135191&Site=CM&BackColorInternet=9999CC&BackColorIn tranet=FFBB55&BackColorLogged=FFAC75 (Recommendation) and http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/ highereducation/PublicResponsibility/Explanatory%20Memorandum%20public%20responsibility_ EN.asp#TopOfPage (Explanatory Memorandum) Council of Europe/UNESCO (1997). Council of Europe/UNESCO Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region. The text may be found at http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/165.htm, the Explanatory Memorandum at http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/reports/html/165.htm and a constantly updated list of signatures and ratifications at http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/ChercheSig.asp?NT=165&CM=8& CL=ENG. ENQA http://www.enqa.eu/

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SJUR BERGAN ESU http://www.esu-online.org/ EUA http://www.eua.be EURASHE http://www.eurashe.eu European Quality Assurance Register http://www.eqar.eu/ European Quality Assurance Standards (2005) http://www.bologna-bergen2005.no/EN/BASIC/ 050520_European_Quality_Assurance_Standards.pdf Heyneman, S. P. (2004). Education and corruption. International Journal of Education Development, 24(6), 638-648. Heyneman, S. P. (2007). Buying your way into heaven: The corruption of education systems in global perspectives. Perspectives on Global Issues, 2(1), 1-8. Heyneman, S. P., Anderson, K. H., & Nuraliyeva, N. (2008). The cost of corruption in higher education. Comparative Education Review, 51(2), 1-25. Ivošević, V. (2007). Academic alienation and exploitation. In Barblan, Daxner, & Ivošević (Eds.), Academic malpractice: Threats and temptations. Magna Charta Universitatum http://www.magna-charta.org/pdf/mc_pdf/mc_english.pdf Popović, M. (2007). Corruption and academic integrity: The students’ viewpoint. In Badrawi & Barblan et al. (Eds.), The management of university integrity (pp. 93-111). Praha Communiqué (2001) http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/bologna/documents/MDC/ PRAGUE_COMMUNIQUE2.pdf Sajó, A. (2007). Academic malpractice: European higher education at risk. In Badrawi & Barblan et al. (Eds.), The management of university integrity. Tironi, E. (2005). El sueño chileno: Comunidad, familia y nación en el Bicentenario. Santiago de Chile: Taurus. Vukasović, M. (2007). The integrity of higher education – From essence to management. In Badrawi & Barblan et al. (Eds.), The management of university integrity. Weber, L. & Bergan, S. (Eds.) (2005). The public responsibility for higher education and research. Council of Europe Higher Education Series No. 2. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing.

AFFILIATIONS

Sjur Bergan Department of Higher Education and History Teaching Council of Europe Strasbourg France

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THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS IN FIGHTING EDUCATION CORRUPTION

INTRODUCTION

Corruption is a difficult challenge to both individuals and international development organisations in education development. Part of the reason is that there is not enough reliable knowledge of prevalence, structural characteristics or consequences, just to mention a few, of education corruption. The other part of the reason is that international organisations’ anti-corruption strategies are general without providing means to recognise and address corruption in education. I have experienced that one or several of the next five assumptions are often present when international education development community engages in co-operation with education systems in corrupted or highly-corrupted countries. First assumption is that “it is not our business”. This refers to a belief that education corruption is part of larger set of issues in politics, economy and society that is beyond the means of education experts. There is also an aspect of safety related to this position: it is better to stay away from politics of corruption to guarantee that planned education reforms can be implemented. Second assumption is that “there is nothing we can do about it”. It indicates that the roots of education corruption are too deep in education institutions, especially in universities, to be accessible, or too high in political establishments. Third assumption is that “education corruption is a cultural issue”. This is related to a belief that in some cases corruption should be accepted as part a way the society operates. For instance, low public sector wages is sometimes used as an excuse not to include anti-corruption in education reforms. Fourth assumption is that “corruption can best be reduced by improving governance and transparency in education”. This means that rather than raising the issue of corruption per se, smarter way is to develop those aspects of education system that will make corruption more difficult. Fifth assumption is that “corruption is not a special issue affecting education”. This argument follows from the fact there is not sufficient country-specific evidence of education corruption. Domestic political strength and will of countries that suffer from corruption are normally not enough to make any significant progress in governance and transparency that are often related to alleviating corruption. Therefore international organisations have an important role to play in combating wide-spread corruption. This –––––––––––––– 1 The views are those of the author alone and do not necessarily represent those of the European Training Foundation or any of the European Union institutions

S.P. Heyneman (ed.), Buying Your Way into Heaven, 135–154. © 2009 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

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chapter argues that they indeed have a pivotal role in reducing corruption also in education. It first discusses some features of education corruption and how its complex nature complicates mapping it reliably in different countries. It then describes the prevalence of corruption relying on available surveys of perception and recent research. Brief introduction to anti-corruption policies of six international organisations and examples of how they have embedded anti-corruption measures in their education projects is then discussed. Finally, this chapter concludes that international organisations need to do more: they need better coordination and more collaboration if their planned anti-corruption strategies are to be successful in education. Moreover, each organisation need to engage in constructive dialogue with their counterparts, include concrete actions in their mainstream education development work, and jointly finance research, surveys, meetings and publications and conduct them in collaboration with partner countries. The Changing Face of Education Corruption Anti-corruption entered to the agendas of international organisations rather late. As recently as in 1990s corruption rarely appeared as a concrete issue in education strategies or partner countries’ reform policies. It was the landmark speech of thenPresident James Wolfensohn in the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in October 1996 that brought term corruption to the surface and soon embedded it in the global development discourse. But it has taken a surprisingly long to awaken the education development community in international organisations to its consequences and “put teeth” into efforts to address prevalent malpractices in education. Education corruption is not only a problem in developing countries but also in transition countries and many industrial nations as well. But it is not the same everywhere. Other chapters of this book make it evident that in Sub-Saharan Africa the main problem is sexual exploitation, in North America cheating and in South East Europe bribery. The late awakening of the education development community to education corruption is surprising because it has been known since the emergence of new market economies in Central and Eastern Europe and New Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union that corruption was endemic in their education systems. Indeed, the result of weakening enforcement mechanisms of central governments in most of these countries led to looser coordination and control of ‘rent-seeking activity’. “The result, at least in the earliest years of independence”, writes Heyneman, “was an increase in overall corruption and inefficiency at many levels of government and administration, and the education sector was not immune from these forces” (Heyneman, Anderson, & Nuraliyeva, 2007, 1). On some occasions, bribes and informal fees for being accepted to sit exams, for instance, were seen as acceptable means to top up low public sector wages. Education corruption was, for a long time, also seen as general problem in the public sector rather than something to be addressed by education sector policies. For example, the global campaign to raise access to and quality of basic education worldwide known as Education for All did not include anti-corruption as an action 136

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in achieving its goals (UNESCO, 2008). By now it is evident that accomplishment of Education for All and thereby the Millennium Development Goals will be seriously jeopardised as long as corruption, weak governance and lack of transparency exist in education systems as they do today. In fact, corruption when it was included in education projects by international development agencies was part of the overall development of governance or reformation of public administration. As we will see later in this chapter anti-corruption measures today are often put in place indirectly by addressing competition, accountability and transparency in education in recipient countries. Numerous surveys and studies conclude that education corruption is a complex issue and that is not the same in different parts of the world (Barblan, Daxner, & Ivosevic, 2007; Hallak & Poisson, 2007; Heyneman, 2004; Knack, 2006; Stefes, 2007; Transparency International, 2007a). First, it is sometimes difficult to determine exactly what corruption means in different situations or countries. Appointment of staff in the ministries or schools, approval and selection of textbooks to be used by students, and fee-based private tutoring to complement teaching in schools are examples of issues where the line between appropriate and corrupt behaviours is sometimes difficult. Sexual harassment, for example, may not be an issue in one country but is the main form of education corruption in the other as is described in other chapters in this book. Second, corruption in education is difficult to make visible or verify because – in most cases – all those involved are also beneficiaries. Students or parents who pay bribes to teachers or professors benefit from higher marks and secured entry to admired school or faculty. Teachers and professors who take bribes top up their salaries and thus increase their personal income. School principals and Deans are often part of the profit-making chain. Therefore, it is good for all to keep wrongdoing a secret. Third, corruption is closely linked to and a consequence of poor governance, the absence of transparency and lack of mutual trust within society as a whole. A common excuse for corrupted practices and procedures in countries of weak governance is that “this is the way we do things here”, in other words, it is part of the culture. The purpose of this chapter is not to analyse and contribute to conceptual aspects of corruption in education but rather discuss some possible pathways that international organisations could use to better address malpractices commonly found in education systems around the world. Today, corruption is widely recognised as harmful and destructive for social development, public moral and economic sustainability. For example, the United Nations (UN), Council of Europe (CoE), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and European Commission (EC) have recently strengthened their positions on anticorruption issues. Strategies and resolutions of these organisations aim to assist governments and business communities in reducing corruption. Only recently have international development organisations appealed for better coordination and more coherent approach to anti-corruption issues (Asian Development Bank, 2007; OECD, 2007; World Bank, 2006). However, there are only a few concrete exam137

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ples of joint efforts by international development organisations to address corruption directly as part of education sector reforms. External support to education systems is increasingly channelled through alternative development co-operation modalities, such as a sector-wide approach or direct budget support to the governments. Traditionally, external assistance has been channelled to recipient countries through sector-specific projects that are often designed by consultants rather than by the Ministry itself. These new modalities, instead, finance government’s own education sector development plans (sector-wide approach) or disburses assistance money straight to government’s budget to fill the budget gap. This ‘development cooperation paradigm shift’ is moving donors’ focus from corruption in their own projects’ fiduciary structures onto enhanced transparency and reliability of recipient country systems. Upgrading procurement and financial management capacities of ministries and institutions have indeed become a common way to mitigate existing risks of corruption. A sectorwide approach is therefore less likely to reduce prevalent education corruption because, by definition, it finances implementation of governments’ own strategies. Evidence from sector-wide education programmes in highly-corrupted countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia suggests that governments are reluctant to admit and accept even the use of word ‘corruption’ in their education sector development documents. Corruption will remain an unsolved issue in education development unless governments want to take the lead in improving governance and transparency in their own administration. Any form of unethical practice is particularly harmful when it happens in education. Corruption destroys the very purpose of education. Students who learn that cheating in school exams is the best way to succeed have missed to learn the ethical foundation of school and are therefore more likely to break that code of conduct later in their lives. Teachers who accept bribery or favouritism send a wrong message not only to those involved in these malpractices but also to those who are not involved. Schools that raise grades or universities that sell diplomas without appropriate achievements of their students jeopardise their own reputation and also the professional future of their alumni. Finally, an education system that remains silent about the wrongdoings of their leaders and servants casts a shadow over an entire society. It signals with its silence that, in the end, it is money, not merit that counts. In other words, contrary to many other sectors where impact of corruption is primarily financial, in education sector its consequences are moral. This is one reason why it is easier to remain silent about wrongdoings in education: ethical damage is much more difficult to quantify than monetary losses. The Prevalence of the Problem Two questions are important here: (1) How common is corruption in education sectors compared to other sectors, e.g. health or police? (2) Is the incidence of corruption in education higher now than before? Both of these questions are difficult to answer. We know that cheating, political nepotism and corruption can be found in most, if not all, education systems. We also know that education corruption is 138

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not the same everywhere. Because of the very nature of the problem, however, they are complicated to measure or difficult to research. Following paragraphs answers the first question whereas the second one will be commented in the closing section of this chapter. There are only a few sources of reliable global data about corruption in education. None of the international organisations mentioned earlier has its own, systematically collected data of the prevalence or nature of education corruption. The best-known global corruption measurement, the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) that is a service of Transparency International, provides some evidence through its annual data generation. However, actual corruption is difficult to track by such surveys. But there are some useful data about people’s perceptions of corruption and also their experiences of petty corruption. The Global Corruption Barometer 2007, also published by Transparency International, is a public opinion survey that was conducted by the Gallup Organization between June and September 2007. It included over 63,000 people in 60 countries and territories. People were interviewed face-to-face or over the telephone (Transparency International, 2007b). Samples were, whenever possible, randomly selected and had national coverage. According to the 2007 Barometer, one third of those interviewed around the world perceived their education system to be affected by corruption. Moreover, 16% labelled their education system as extremely corrupted. There is a significant regional variation of perceived extreme education corruption between the regions of the world, however, as shown in Table 1. It is noteworthy that this only indicates respondents’ perception of corruption, not actual corruption. Table 1. Perception of how extreme corruption has affected education systems as a percentage in respondents in 2007 (N=63,000+; Transparency International, 2007b) EU27

Western Balkan

NIS

Africa

Latin America

Asia/ Pacific

North America

World

6

35

39

25

15

15

9

16

It is important to note that surveys of perception have limited power to measure corruption. For example, widely-cited CPI standardised corruption indicators are from numerous sources that are typically expert surveys – at least three are required – in order to place them on a comparable scale. A calculated un-weighted average provides a single value that for each country. This enables rank-ordering of countries according to the level of perceived corruption. It is not possible to make any further conclusions based on these composite values regarding the prevalence or nature of corruption in education in any country. The CPI offers, however, a context in which corruption in education can be assessed as part of the public service sector. Some other surveys are based on actual participation in corruption.

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Different types of surveys are employed to investigate corruption with differing degrees of utility. Typically, the police system is perceived as the most corrupted public institution in most countries. Thus, it is a relevant benchmark to estimate the magnitude of prevalence of corruption in education. Transparency International’s 2007 Barometer data enables comparison of the perception of corruption in education in different regions of the world to that of police. Figure 1 shows how global public perception of education corruption compares to corruption in police system in different regions of the world. Interestingly, in the Western Balkans education is seen as more corrupt than the police! Figure 1 also illustrates that level of perceived education corruption in three former Soviet Union republics and in Western Balkans included in the 2007 Barometer is higher than in Africa or Latin America.

Figure 1. Perception of how corruption has affected education system and police in different regions of the world in 2007 (Transparency International, 2007b)

In the Western Balkans and the NIS, Figure 1 shows that more than half of those interviewed perceived their education systems as corrupted or extremely corrupted. According to citizen’s perceptions, corruption affects education systems almost to the same extend that it affects police. However, these numbers of perceived corruption do not show if respondents actually have experienced or been involved in corruption-like situations. The same 2007 Barometer provides data that describe how many respondents have paid a bribe in the education sector in comparison to police. When asked about actual incidence, 9% of interviewed households reported that they have paid bribes when being in contact with education sector during the last 12 months. This may seem insignificant but being an international average that 140

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includes many countries with relatively low levels of corruption, these figures take on greater importance. Moreover, based on the same source, education is reported to have a higher incidence of petty corruption than the legal system, medical sector or registry and permit service. Figures 1 and 2 indicate that bribery, fraud and cheating in their different forms seem to be widespread in education systems. Sadly the poor, whether in industrial or developing countries, are the most penalised by education corruption.

Figure 2. Percentage of respondents who have paid a bribe in the education sector and to the police during the last 12 months (Transparency International, 2007b)

As Figure 2 illustrates, the incidence of bribery in education is highest in the region of NIS. It also shows, interestingly, that there is some inconsistency between actual engagement in paying bribes and perception of corruption. This would suggest that corruption has some other forms in many countries than bribery as is described by other authors in this book. Another source of evidence relating to the first question comes from various studies and projects carried out in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region. For example, Heyneman and his research team (2007) have reported the incidence of corruption in higher education in ECA. Their findings rely on their own data, those collected by the Anti-corruption Student Network in South East Europe (SEE) and Transparency International, and indicate two things. First, that unethical practices ranging from cheating in exams to bribery, fraud, nepotism and large-scale state capture are widespread in all public universities in these regions. Their research shows that in four Eastern European countries, two out of three students who were interviewed knew of bribery for a grade or an exam 141

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among their faculty. Second, based on the data available, it is evident that students’ attitudes toward cheating, buying their way into desired faculty, achieving better grades and engaging in other illicit practices are far from those one would expect to see in an education institution. For instance, the vast majority of students who were interviewed in four SEE countries said that if they were in a situation to cheat without getting caught they would cheat. In one Central Asian country more than half of university students described their own university as capable of being bribed (Heyneman, 2007, p. 5). Additional evidence comes from recent large-scale corruption cases in Western Balkan countries where entire faculties have been arrested and sent to jail. Despite growing interest and increasing research on education corruption much remains unknown. There is no reliable international survey or index that would help governments and international organisations to compare the incidence or perceptions of education corruption in different countries. Furthermore, there is no reliable means to find out if countries that are suffering from education corruption are making any progress over time. What is left is mostly anecdotal stock of evidence that is often spiced by personal memories, scandals reported on the front pages of tabloid papers and experiences shared by the education development community – often told off the record. One such effort was recently made by The Spokesman Review, a newspaper published in the state of Washington in the United States. It recently published in its online news the names of almost 10,000 people who spent total of US$7.3 million to buying phoney and counterfeit high school and college degrees from a Spokane diploma mill (Spokesman Review, 2008). The US Department of Justice refused to publish the complete list of buyers but it found its way into the public arena through that newspaper. This is just the tip of the iceberg in the world of educational fraud and bogus degree mills. Sellers of these fake degrees are a challenge to both national education authorities and the international organisations that support their reforms to confront fraud and rentseeking that are often linked to foreign private education providers. Campbell’s Law in Educational Reforms International organisations have been instrumental in profiling national education policies and financing the implementation of education reforms, not only in developing world but also in the industrial nations. Development assistance from multigovernmental organisations and grants from bilateral donors have often promoted improved governance and structural reforms insisting that recipient governments establish new institutions to increase objectivity and accountability in their education systems. The primary purpose of many of these education policies has been to shift the modus operandi of the education system towards how the open market and business operate. Indeed, reliance on principles of open competition as the main driving force of efficiency and improvement in education has brought high-stakes testing, merit-based teacher pay and financing schools according to predetermined results. This is now part of life of teachers and students in many parts of the world. Focusing more than before on competition, accountability and transparency – many 142

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reformers believe – improves quality and governance of education and thereby reduces the chances of education corruption. Current World Bank education strategy offers a good example of the logic of combating corruption through better governance and transparency: “The government of the Kyrgyz Republic introduced high-quality standardized university entrance examinations in 2002 to eliminate corruption in university admissions, which immediately produced a sharp increase in the number of poor rural students admitted to university” (World Bank, 2005, p. 36). That is an important improvement but not necessarily evidence of reduced corruption. The global educational reform movement has brought business-thinking to the world of education (Sahlberg, 2009a). A senior education expert with extensive career experience concluded that “when education became a market good, also the ethics among educators began to change”. The pressures of high-stakes testing and school-to-school competition erode the validity of test scores and distort the integrity of the education system. In the United States, for example, Nichols and Berliner (2007) claim that this has caused the entire education system to become corrupted. It appears that the greater the social consequences associated with a quantitative indicator – such as test scores – the more likely it is that the indicator itself will become corrupted, or the more likely it is that the use of the indicator will corrupt the social processes it was intended to monitor. This is known as Campbell’s Law: “The over-reliance on high-stakes testing and competition has serious negative repercussions that are present at every level of the public school system” (Campbell, 1975, 35). Therefore, the global educational reform movement, by endorsing and often insisting that governments create standardised testing systems, stronger school accountability based on these test results and then judging the performance of schools and individuals using these same data, has made many education systems more vulnerable in terms of becoming corrupted. Using high-stakes assessments to determine the success or failure of schools or individuals is particularly problematic within the new ‘business culture’ that many schools today operate. The race for higher standards, a higher position in school league tables and competition for public funds has indeed made many school principals and teachers consider previously unacceptable methods of improving their scores in these high-stakes tests. Evidence provided by Jacob and Levitt (2002), Levitt and Dubner (2005) and Nichols and Berliner (2007) about the affects of testbased accountability policy in American schools to stimulate teachers and school districts to cheat for better test scores. With high-stakes testing, if students perform poorly in tests, teacher or entire school may suffer. In extreme situations, teacher may be fired or school closed. In order to avoid these negative consequences many teachers have chosen unethical solutions to secure better results for their students. Education strategies in many other countries put stronger emphasis on externally measured achievement than strengthening those aspects of schooling that are gradually getting weaker in our societies. I have argued elsewhere that this has left many teachers and schools ‘hugging the middle’ as they try to avoid professional failure and seek a way to individual victory (Sahlberg, 2009b). This can lead to unexpected situations especially in nations that are suffering from epidemic corrup143

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tion in their societies. Competition, privatisation and accountability may help to solve some present problems in education but they can also create more reasons and opportunities for new forms of corruption. International Organisations and Education Corruption Since the late 1990s international development organisations and donor agencies have designed policies that define their own positions on corruption and often suggest how to put anti-corruption as an active item on the development agenda. The reason for this is the recognition that corruption poses a serious threat to sustainable social and economic development and thereby also to poverty reduction. The Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2008 states that “improvement of governance, including reduction of corruption, is key to achievement of the EFA goals, which demand considerable political commitment and management capacity” (UNESCO, 2008, 20). Anti-corruption and institutional integrity policies are often conceptual and rather general documentations that do not specifically describe any particular field of development. This is surprising given that annually more than US$10 billion of official development assistance is spent on education, mostly in countries where corruption is widespread in both public and private sectors and hence common practice in the education sector as well. Education reforms rarely address corruption directly, i.e. to stop existing bribery, cheating or favouritism. Instead, a typical approach in practice to prevent corruption in educational development is one of the three different generic avenues or any combination of them: (1) Improving governance and transparency; (2) Increasing competition and accountability; and (3) Decentralising management and reducing central regulations. None of these strategies is unique to the education sector only but they have been applied in other sectors for similar purposes. Emphasis on good governance through public administration reforms often include such measures as new legislation, performance-based financing, improving education statistics, and making information about the education sector accessible to the public. Internally administrated entrance and exit examinations have been typical means to enhance transparency and fairness of these examinations. Promotion of private education, parental choice and school autonomy are all part of increasing competition within the education sector. These elements can be found in many education sector strategies and reforms from the 1990s onwards. Strengthening school and teacher accountability for student achievement is one concrete consequence of this movement (Sahlberg, 2009b). Finally, weakening power at the top of the education administration hierarchy by decentralisation and deregulation of education management is a common way to reduce the monopoly of corruption and increase local responsibility and ownership. This will not, however, necessarily stop corruption but with better involvement of local stakeholders it can be better controlled than management at the centre. Reforming poorly governed, corrupted education systems using these ideas also is well targeted when the aim is to make abuse of authority, systematic cheat144

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ing and rent-seeking more difficult. But these measures alone will not remove the root of the problem unless the prevalence of corruption in any given situation is recognised and concrete steps to stop it are included as part of education sector reforms. How do international organisations address anti-corruption? First of all, there are several private foundations and non-governmental organisations actively working on education corruption. Probably the best known is the Transparency International, a global civic society organisation that leads the global campaign against corruption. It is increasingly focusing also on specific sectors in corruption, including education. Another example is the project titled Anti-corruption Student Network funded by the Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation Network) includes student organizations from Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova and Serbia, and its long-term aim is to lower the level of corruption at the universities and to create transparent higher education environment in SEE region. Also, Magna Charta Observatory and the National Unions of Students in Europe (ESIB) have activities related to protecting the fundamental university values and integrity (see Barblan et al., 2007). Intergovernmental institutions are also becoming more operational in anti-corruption in education. Let us look at six international organisations that are present in education sector development in ECA region. One of the basic anti-corruption documents is the United Nations (UN) Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) with 140 signatories and 84 ratifications or accessions to date. It is now prominent as a key global anti-corruption instrument and a basis for the leadership role that multilateral organisations are taking in fight against corruption. UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) has contributed to the knowledge base of education corruption through its project “Ethics and corruption in education” launched in 2001. It led to a volume titled “Corrupted schools, corrupted universities” published in 2007 (Hallak & Poisson, 2007). IIEP promotes good governance, transparency and anti-corruption through training and publications to education leaders and policy-makers. The Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has worked for many years to criminalize transnational bribery, demanding stricter external and internal audit controls and tighter public procurement. In 2007 its Development Assistance Committee (DAC) took a step to support an agenda for collective action on corruption (OECD, 2007). The basic requirement is a need for more rigorous controls on fraud and corruption in donor-financed projects and programmes. As a point of departure the DAC lists three proposals for donor agencies to minimise the risks arising from corruption that will only be effective if they are undertaken jointly or in a strongly co-ordinated way. They propose that DAC (OECD, 2007, pp. 28-30): (a) facilitate joint assessments of corruption and the wider governance context, beginning with pilot exercises in selected countries; (b) signal support for existing anti-corruption benchmarks and targets that can be agreed on jointly by donors and partners at country level and used to monitor progress; and

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(c) endorse as good practice the close coordination of donor governance and anti-corruption work at country level. This is the approach to corruption in general. The OECD has been less instrumental in education corruption. The Council of Europe (CoE) has made the fight against corruption one of its priorities. Its multidisciplinary approach consist three interrelated elements: (a) the setting of European norms and standards; (b) monitoring of compliance with the standards; and (c) capacity building offered to countries and regions. The Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) was established by the CoE in 1999 to monitor its 45 members’ progress in anti-corruption work. In the area of higher education, furthering transparency and combating corruption is one of the dimensions of the Council’s bilateral and regional work in South East Europe and in the NIS. This work comprises advice on legislation and structural reform, in line with the principle of the European Higher Education Area, in which the Council of Europe is a major actor. The World Bank’s (WB) approach also envisions a balanced strategy to combat corruption (World Bank, 2007). It has seven guiding principles for strengthening its own engagement on governance and anti-corruption. These principles include, among other things, the idea that anti-corruption work follows from its mandate to reduce poverty, that the country has primary responsibility for improving governance, that there has to be a country-specific approach, and that this work has to be done with donors, international institutions and other actors in the country. The WB’s policy emphasises that there are serious challenges in achieving better coordination among bilateral donors and international organisations. “If there are divergences in approaches and standards”, the policy states, “recipient countries may be inclined to turn to donors that are less stringent on governance and anti-corruption issues” (World Bank, 2007, p. 28). All education operations in the World Bank’s portfolio have to include specific anti-corruption element that aim at preventing the incidence of corruption in implementation. Examples of addressing corruption in education project implementation are described later in next pages. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has recently revised its anti-corruption policy (Asian Development Bank, 2007). The ADB’s position to anti-corruption is intended to “reduce the burden that widespread, systematic corruption exacts upon the governments and economies of the region” (ADB, 2007, p. 4). Its anticorruption policy is centred upon three objectives: (a) Supporting competitive markets and efficient, effective, accountable, and transparent public administration as part of broader work on good governance and capacity building; (b) Supporting promising anti-corruption efforts on a case-by-case basis and improving the quality of dialogue with developing partner countries on a range of governance issues, including corruption; and (c) Ensuring that ADB’s projects and staff adhere to the highest ethical standards.

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The ADP emphasises that if the efforts to reduce illicit behaviours are to be credible, it is essential that its staff be beyond reproach and that its internal regulations and procedures support the highest ethical standards. Therefore updating code of conduct and improving the quality of oversight are some of the key actions in the ADPs position to anti-corruption. The European Commission (EC) has recently recognised a need for a more comprehensive policy on anti-corruption. In its communiqué the European Commission (2003) states that in order to ensure credibility, a clear stance against corruption is essential from leaders and decision-makers. It further suggests that national anticorruption strategies or programmes, covering both preventive and repressive measures, should be drawn up and implemented. The EC also requires that all current and future Members ratify and implement all main international anticorruption instruments they are party to (see above). Third countries should sign and ratify as well as implement relevant international anti-corruption instruments. This policy also calls for codes of conduct in the public sector that should be monitored. Interestingly, education is excluded from the list of those public sectors when better integrity, accountability and transparency in public administration (judiciary, police, customs, tax administration, health sector or public procurement) are required! Unlike other international organisations, the World Bank has a strategy for its work in education development. The official World Bank Education Strategy is from 1999. That document does not include word ‘corruption’, or have any other concrete suggestions to anti-corruption. The updated education strategy was approved in 2005. The document has a brief section that discusses governance and decentralisation. It mentions that corruption poses a fundamental threat to education outcomes. It correctly sets a demand that education sector reviews and assessments must adequately identify both the problem and the possible remedies. “Education interventions can contribute to higher standards of integrity” that strategy states (World Bank, 2005, p. 36). The strategy update remains silent on any suggestions what this could mean in concrete projects or sector assessments. It is, therefore, left to each loan or programme officer to decide how the anti-corruption issue is to be included in operations. The World Bank has, however, changed a gear recently in its approach to preventing corruption in its own projects. Most of the efforts to fight corruption are related to Bank’s own operations rather than addressing existing problems in the education sector. There are some good efforts that deserve to be mentioned here. Although it is too early to judge how successful each of these implemented anticorruption measures are, there are some useful ideas that could be helpful elsewhere. Next paragraphs provide three examples of the WB financed projects that have incorporated some concrete measures to mitigate corruption related risk in education sector. Education Financing and Management Reform Project was launched in 1997 in Armenia. It had a component to design a new textbook procurement scheme that would solve an inability of the government to provide textbooks for all students. The main goals of that component were to improve and upgrade core textbooks and 147

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teachers’ guides, enhance the quality of textbook production and reduce the purchase costs to parents, to provide core textbooks for every subject at every grade level to every student, and to establish a sustainable demand-driven system of financing school textbooks based on affordable parental contributions. The project accomplished full cost recovery of all textbooks within four years in order to purchase replacement copies as textbooks reach the end of their target life. This was done by establishing a national textbook rental scheme and creating a Textbook Revolving Fund Foundation (TRFF) to hold the rental fees collected by schools from parents in separate bank accounts under the direct control and supervision of each school. After the project was completed each individual school was able to use the funds which had accumulated in its account (including bank interest on deposits) to order new books through the TRFF, which would be consolidated for central procurement and delivery in order to take advantage of the cost benefits of bulk procurement. The selection of textbooks is done centrally by the Ministry of Education and Science with TRFF. Textbook pre-orders by schools is centralised. In other words, schools make a decision on how many copies of textbooks and teacher manual are needed based on the number of students and the funds that school has on its bank account. These orders are gathered by TRFF that then proceeds to competitive selection of textbooks. No cases of corruption or misuse of TRFF funds have been reported during the 11 years of existence of this system. Managing Higher Education for Relevance and Efficiency Project in Indonesia, launched in early 2006, includes a Corruption Prevention Action Plan (CPAP). The purpose of the CPAP is to recognise and properly mitigate inherent risks of implementing a project in higher education institutions in highly-corrupted environment. Risk management included measures related to procurement, financial management, and implementation. CPAP included two main elements, namely corruption mapping, and plan for action. The main aspects of the CPAP are: (a) Enhanced disclosure provisions and transparency; (b) civil society oversight; (c) mitigating collusion and nepotism; (d) mitigation of fraud and forgery risks; (e) complaints handling mechanism; and (f) sanctions and remedies. This mechanism has been able to secure the safe operation of higher education innovation fund. Education Excellence and Equity Program (EEEP) in Albania that was launched in September 2006 has a systematic anti-corruption framework to reduce inappropriate procurement and financial management. Corruption is brought to the Program Appraisal Document as a real risk as a reference to the government’s anticorruption strategy. The EEEP assists the government in instituting a more outputbased use of public funds, focusing on service delivery, and emphasize the importance of the Semi-Annual Reviews. It also encourages the Ministry of Education and Science in transparent fiduciary management and reporting, for example by making the information of the education budget and actual expenditure available to the general public. Semi-annual reviews were introduced to increase both government’s accountability to the public and the international financing institutions, and to promote transparency in planning and reporting. The significance of this programme is that it brings corruption to education policy dialogue rather than hides it in the technical documentation. 148

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Success stories in fighting education corruption are still rare. Good practices often address only some aspects of education, e.g. university entrance exams (Georgia and Kirgizstan) or textbook procurement (Albania and Armenia). Anticorruption policies of the international organisations are also general and do not deal with education or any other sector specifically. There are ideas that are similar in all or many of these strategies: improving general governance, enhancing transparency and holding service providers more accountable to the people. In the education sector, however, the problem of corruption is more complicated than that. Although these generic anti-corruption policies are necessary for the organisations themselves and the harmonisation of collective efforts, they are not enough to make significant improvement in the education sector. Therefore, educationspecific anti-corruption policies are needed. Conclusions: Cleaning the Way into Heaven We know surprisingly little about corruption in education. At the same time, we know that corruption is widespread in education systems around the world. If corruption is understood in its broader meaning, then we are facing a truly global problem. Part of the difficulty is that international corruption indexes do not measure actual corruption. They indicate respondents’ perception of corruption. Anecdotal evidence through media, the Internet and from those who have been close or involved in corruption suggests that there is much more to the picture than meets the eye. International statistics, again from the same sources used in this chapter, suggest that corruption is not significantly decreasing as a global average (Anderson & Gray, 2006; OECD, 2007; Transparency International, 2007b). Up close, in some countries corruption in education is actually getting worse. Cheating and plagiarism are the first signs of education corruption. Selling exam papers and grades can be the next. Education executive officers who appoint business colleagues to work with them and authorities who skim private shares from computer procurement deals signal to students and teachers that anything is acceptable as longs as it happens behind closed doors. National anti-corruption campaigns that are limited to catch absent teachers or to find bribing students are nothing but a bad joke when serious violations take place elsewhere in education system. As the anti-corruption policies of international organisations correctly emphasise, there is no single action that would ease the situation. Systemic and coordinated collective effort is needed. All six international organisations that have a role to play in education development in the ECA region have recently sharpened their approaches to corruption. Some of them, like the Council of Europe and the OECD stress that fighting corruption is the priority issue in the overall agenda. Others, including the two development banks, have become more comprehensive and articulate in their positions on anti-corruption. None of the six organisations, however, has specific policy for education corruption. One of the reasons why may be the lack of systematic knowledge of nature, location and magnitude of education corruption. It is also possible, that the definitions used by these organisations limit education corruption 149

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to bribery and fraud that is only a part of all malpractices found in many education systems. Another conclusion of the review of six organisations and their approach to education corruption is that it is often done by improving education governance, transparency, privatisation of education services and stronger accountability. The example offered in this chapter is the changing development co-operation modalities adopted by many international organisations. A sector-wide approach and budget support to the governments are moving the focus onto using country systems but at the same time, as has happened with first education sector-wide programmes in Europe, fiduciary aspects are receiving most attention as far as corruption is concerned. As Hallak and Poisson (2007, p. 37) also observed in their study, test-based accountability in a school system can lead to teacher and student behaviours that can be called corrupted (see Nichols & Berliner, 2007; Sahlberg, 2009b). A third conclusion is that, although all six international organisations call for better co-ordination and joint efforts among these organisations and other players in the field of education corruption, no common anti-corruption policy or joint action plans exist. Each development agency implements its own anti-corruption policy independently and often differently to the others. Some staff in the same institution may tolerate corruption in the same country more than other colleagues. In tightening ‘project markets’ mentioning corruption may be avoided simply because of the fear of losing a client and thus the project. As an example, the first sectorwide approach education programme supported by international development institutions was prepared and launched in one of the most corrupted countries in Europe some years ago without even mentioning the wide-spread education corruption in this country. The Project Appraisal Document made no reference to prevalent and publicly acknowledged malpractices that were also reported in recent surveys and studies (Heyneman et al., 2007). More surprisingly, it didn’t include any transparency or accountability measures, such as semi-annual open meetings and public disclosure of project reports that are normal ways to ensure that minimum safeguards to protect the use of public funds are in place. This guaranteed smooth government clearance of the project but left external supervision toothless to raise governance and transparency during implementation. It is important that when international organisations engage in collaboration with countries that corruption is understood broadly. If the efforts are focused narrowly, i.e. university admissions or teacher absenteeism, many of the practices that are harmful to education will remain untouched. It is also uncertain whether measures that rely only on improving governance and administration will be helpful enough. It is, therefore, conditional that the breadth and depth of the problem is assessed and recognised. This is best done by, not establishing anti-corruption or ethical commissions to work with the ministry, but by engaging in informative and constructive dialogue with all possible partners involved. This may be supported by monitoring, reviews and training that focus on understanding the actual situation in countries. It is also paramount that the staffs of international organisations have a shared position to anti-corruption in order to work with all partners in a coherent and consistent way. 150

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Another necessary concrete action is advocacy and awareness-raising as part of education reform. This should focus on further dialogue and sharing knowledge based on findings and conclusions from monitoring, reviews and training. It is helpful if this advocacy process is closely linked to general national anti-corruption policies and government strategies. Talking about the importance of integrity and ethics in education and instating all members of education community to respect general rules should be given high priority. Third, combating corruption will only be successful if people are mobilised to take concrete actions. Establishing an ethical code of conduct for all in the education sector is one such practical step. National and regional conferences and seminars, regularly conducted surveys among teachers, students and parents, and public recognition of good, innovative practices to identify, prevent and reduce corruption are other ideas that have been tested in practice.

2 Advocate Engage in smart, polite but direct dialogue with authorities and stakeholders. Persuade your colleagues and partners. Talk, educate and move ahead.

1 Identify Map the problem, find institutions and people who have information. Define the concept. Talk to students, parents and communities.

3 Mobilise Find people to work with you. Move to concrete actions, help to have codes of conduct, surveys, events and whistleblowers.

Figure 3. Action cycle for international organisations anti-corruption efforts in education development

International organisations have created a promising context for more coordinated and comprehensive joint approach to address education corruption. It is necessary that the spirit of the anti-corruption policies presented in this chapter is taken literally. There are many institutions in Europe who have their own comparative advantage, mandate and resource constraints. It is therefore necessary to begin interinstitutional dialogue to clarify what each organisation is able to do. For example, some institutions may have a mandate to work on education corruption but have no resources or funding available for that. Some other institutions may only work with

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partner countries or specific levels of education. As a network of institutions, however, most of these issues become meaningless. Within the overall framework for action for international organisations shown in Figure 3, the following could be considered as ideas for joining efforts in combating corruption in education: 1. Finance research on education corruption. Despite growing interest the research base is still not sufficient to convince suspicious minds of prevalence and consequences of education corruption. Most contemporary research concentrates on malpractices in universities. Corruption in primary or secondary schools is much less investigated. For example, the recent Transparency International (2007a) working paper titled “Corruption in the education sector” had very little evidence from research. In order to strengthen the research base on education corruption international organisations could agree on the main research themes or questions and jointly finance research projects. 2. Coordinate surveys on education corruption. None of the current international corruption surveys (including Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index, World Bank Institute’s Control of Corruption Index) provide information about education corruption in detail. As Knack (2006) points out in his critique of such crosscountry indicators, these indexes are also unable to provide comparative information of countries’ progress year-to-year or even reliable picture of cross-country comparisons. Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer is a step forward but there is a need for more specified survey that could be carried out in ECA region. International organisations could work jointly on preparing such surveys and agree on who could take a lead in administrating them annually. 3. Arrange regular conferences on ethics and corruption in education. At the moment, education corruption has been part of general education conferences. As the research evolves, there will be a need for an annual event in which research designs and papers can be discussed. This conference should also invite national researchers and education experts to present national education reforms and work on corruption. International organisations could agree to hold an annual conference on ethics and corruption in education and host it on rotating basis. 4. Produce policy papers on education governance and corruption. If the joint work on anti-corruption that has been proposed by many international organisations becomes reality, there will also be a need for coordination of publications. Conferences and national seminars could be supported by a series of periodical policy papers that would report findings and news in education corruption. This would also be a way to help the advocacy work that is necessary in countries. International organisations could decide who would take the responsibility to coordinate and edit an Internet-based series of policy papers. In 1984 President Museveni thought that his country Uganda had nothing to do with HIV/AIDS. Ten years later HIV-related infection rates in his country were the highest in the world. In finding ways to address the alarming situation, President Museveni drew inspiration from tradition. “When a lion comes into your village, you must raise the alarm loudly”, he said when addressing his colleagues in the 152

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African Development Forum in Addis Ababa in December 2000. This is exactly what the Ugandans did. They accepted the situation and took it seriously. All government meetings had to include a moment to remind people about the issue and how to solve it together. In that same Forum address the President also encouraged the audience by stressing that AIDS is not such a serious problem; it is not like small pox or Ebola. Indeed, it can be prevented and if people become aware of the nature of the problem sufficiently, it will gradually stop. Today, HIV infections have not completely stopped in Uganda but reduction of the deadly virus spread is a top-of-the-class example for others. Putting anti-corruption as a concrete aspect of education reforms that international development organisations finance and support is a moral obligation. Those who speak truth to power, however, often come to regret it. Regardless, we need to bring the issue of education corruption to the attention of power. We should talk to people openly and, if necessary, loudly about education corruption as President Museveni and his people did to save their country. REFERENCES Anderson, J., & Gray, C. (2006). Anticorruption in transition 3. Who is succeeding ... and why? Washington, DC: World Bank. Asian Development Bank (2007). Anticorruption and integrity. Manila: Asian Development Bank. Barblan, A., Daxner, M., & Ivosevic, V. (2007). Academic malpractice. Threaths and temptations. Bologna: Bononia University Press. Campbell, D. T. (1975). Assessing the impact of planned social change. In G. Lyons (Ed.), Social research and public policies. The Dartmouth/OECD Conference. Hanover, NH: Dartmouth College, 3-45. European Commission (2003). A comprehensive EU anti-corruption policy. Retrieved on 31 August, 2008 from the Internet at http://europa.eu/scadplus/ leg/en/lvb/l33301.htm. Hallak, J., & Poisson, M. (2007). Corrupt schools, corrupt universities. What can be done? Paris: International Institute for Educational Planning. Heyneman, S. (2004). Education and corruption. International Journal of Education Development, 24(6), 638–648. Heyneman, S. (2007). Buying your way into heaven: the corruption of education systems in global perspective. Perspectives on Global Issues, 2(1), 1–8. Heyneman, S., Anderson, K., & Nuraliyeva, N. (2007). The cost of corruption in higher education. Comparative Education Review, 52(1), 1–25. Jacob, B., & Levitt, S. (2002). Rotten apples: An investigation of the prevalence and predictors of teacher cheating. Working paper #9413. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved from the Internet on Sept 11, 2008 at http://www.nber.org/papers/w9413/. Kaufmann, D., & Kraay, A. (2008). Governance indicators: Where are we, where should we be going? The World Bank Research Observer, 23(1), 1–30. Knack, S. (2006). Measuring corruption in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: A critique of the crosscountry indicators. Policy Research Working Paper no. 3968. Washington, DC: World Bank. Levitt, S., & Dubner, S. (2005). Freakonomics. A rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything. New York: HarperCollins. Nichols, S., & Berliner, D. (2007). Collateral damage: How high-stakes testing corrupts America’s schools. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. OECD (2007). Policy paper and principles on anti-corruption. Setting an agenda for collective action. Paris: OECD.

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PASI SAHLBERG Sahlberg, P. (2009a). Educational change in Finland. In A. Hargreaves, M. Fullan, A. Lieberman, & D. Hopkins (Eds.), International handbook of educational change (2nd edition). New York: Kluwer. Sahlberg, P. (2009b). Rethinking school accountability policies in a knowledge society. Journal of Educational Change. Available online at: http://www.springerlink.com.content/104758/?Content +Status=Accepted. Spokesman Review (2008). Diploma mill degree recipients. Retrieved on 5 September, 2008 from the Internet at http://www.spokesmanreview.com/data /diploma-mill/. Stefes, C. (2007). Measuring, conceptualizing, and fighting systemic corruption: evidence from postSoviet countries. Perspectives on Global Issues, 2(1). Retrieved from the Internet on 15 June, 2008 at http://www. perspectivesonglobalissues.com/archive.html. Transparency International (2007a). Corruption in education sector. Working Paper #4. Berlin: Transparency International. Transparency International, (2007b). Report on the Transparency International Global Corruption Barometer 2007. Berlin: Transparency International. UNESCO (2008). Education for all – Global monitoring report 2008. Paris: UNESCO. World Bank (2005). Education sector strategy update. Achieving education for all, broadening our perspective, maximizing our effectiveness. Washington, DC: World Bank. World Bank (2007). Strengthening World Bank Group engagement on governance and anticorruption. Washington, DC: World Bank.

AFFILIATIONS

Pasi Sahlberg European Training Foundation Torino Italy

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Salihu Bakari holds a doctorate degree in Gender and Education at the University of Sussex and has over ten years teaching and managerial experience in teacher education institution in Nigeria with research interests in gender, education and development. He worked with the Universal Basic Education Commission in Abuja, a Nigerian Agency responsible for achieving EFA for all school-age children. He also worked with the Education Trust Fund in Abuja and was also the Co-ordinator for Projects and International Training and Support for Adamawa State. Dr. Bakari was the founding Director-General, Special Projects also in Adamawa State, a position he held until his recent appointment as the Executive Chairman, Adamawa State Universal Basic Education Board, a body responsible for management and control of primary and junior secondary schools in the State. He can be reached at: [email protected] Sjur Bergan is Head of the Department of Higher Education and History Teaching of the Council of Europe. He is a member of the Bologna Follow Up Group and Board and chairs the Bologna Coordination Group on Qualifications Frameworks. Until recently, he was Secretary to the Steering Committee for Higher Education and Research (CDESR) and responsible for the Council’s activities on recognition and mobility. Sjur Bergan is the author of Qualifications: Introduction to a Concept as well as of numerous articles on various aspects of higher education policies and on the heritage of European universities. He is series editor of the Council of Europe Higher Education Series. Before joining the Council of Europe, Sjur Bergan worked in the administration of the University of Oslo, where he played an important role in establishing the University’s program for cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe in 1990. His introduction to higher education policies was as a student representative, notably on the Academic Senate of the University of Oslo and its Executive Board. [email protected] John M. Collins holds a Master’s of Education in Comparative and International Development Education from Brigham Young University. Currently, he is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Educational Theory and Policy and Comparative & International Education at Pennsylvania State University. His areas of interest are the nexus of education and health, HIV and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, gender and examining HIV curricular interventions. He has worked as a partner on research and primary data collection that examines educational inequality in post Pol Pot Cambodia, HIV educational networks and outreach in Senegal and Uganda and examined the effect of cognition on decision-making and risk assessment in Ghana. He can be reached at: [email protected] S.P. Heyneman (ed.), Buying Your Way into Heaven, 155–158. © 2009 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.

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Walter Dawson is an Assistant Professor of Comparative Education in the College of Education at Hanyang University in Seoul, Korea. Previous to joining Hanyang University he was an Adjunct Assistant Professor with Teachers College, Columbia University, creating and teaching a program in Thailand and Cambodia focused on research methods, project evaluation, and policy analysis in cooperation with UN organizations and local NGOs, as well as teaching comparative and international education courses in Tokyo, Japan for Teachers College and International Christian University. He has participated in large-scale cross-national studies of education such as the 28-Nation IEA Civic Education Study of 19982002 and the 11-Nation Pacific Rim Values Education Study of 1998-2001 in addition to working on grassroots development projects as a consultant with UN organizations and local NGOs in Cambodia and throughout the Pacific Rim. His research interests include education policy and reform, civic and moral education, and equal opportunity for education with a focus on both developed and developing nations on the Pacific Rim and the transfer of education policies and practices. He received a research grant from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture whereby he published his research in the book titled Civic Education in Japan. In 2005, he received his Ph.D. in Comparative Education with a Concentration in Political Science from Teachers College, Columbia University. He can be reached at: [email protected] Stephen P. Heyneman received his PhD in comparative education from the University of Chicago in 1976. He served the World Bank for 22 years. Between 1976 and 1984 he helped research education quality and design policies to support educational effectiveness. Between 1984 and 1989 he was in charge of external training for senior officials world wide in education policy. And between 1989 and 1998, he was responsible for education policy and lending strategy, first for the Middle East and North Africa and later for the 27 countries of Europe and Central Asia. In July, 2000 he was appointed professor of International Education Policy at Vanderbilt University. Current interests include the effect of higher education on social cohesion, the international trade in education services and the economic and social cost to higher education corruption. He can be reached at: [email protected] Fiona Leach is Professor of International Education at the University of Sussex, UK. She worked in Africa as a teacher and education adviser for many years before becoming an academic. She has published widely in the field of gender and education, and has carried out several research studies on gender violence in African schools, including two for the Department for International Development in the UK. Fiona is co-editor of the books Combating Gender Violence in and around Schools (Trentham, 2006) and Conflict and Reconciliation: Education in the 21st Century (Peter Lang, 2007) and is author of Gender Analysis in Education (Oxfam, 2003). She also contributed to the recent World Report on Violence against Children (United Nations, 2006). She has a particular interest in participatory research methodologies and action research as a means of raising 156

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awareness of, and combating, gender violence in schools. She can be reached at: [email protected] Bojan Maricik was born on 7th January 1983 in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. In 2001 he graduated secondary education in the State Gymnasium “Josip Broz Tito” International Baccalaureate (IB) program and he obtained the title Bachelor in Laws (LLB) in 2006 at the University “Sts Cyril and Methodius” Skopje, Faculty of law “Iustinianus primus” Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. Since September 2008 he is attending master studies (LLM) in the area of International and European law: EU law specialization at the University of Amsterdam, Faculty of law (Amsterdam law school) through the scholarship program of the Government of the Kingdom of Netherlands named MTEC (Matra Training for European Cooperation). His publications and academic interest so far took place in the area of the debate theory and practice, debate as an educational tool, public debate as social tool, problems of European integration of Macedonia and issues of student activism and pluralism as a tool for protection of students’ rights. He was active since high school days in the area of the youth activism, debate, critical thinking, culture of dialogue and protection of students’ rights and interests. During his active years of university studies he worked in NGO Youth Educational Forum on various projects containing debate couching and writing, transparency and corruption in the higher education from students’ perspective, building institutions for protection of students’ rights, pluralism in the student representation in front of the Universities in Macedonia etc. In the period 2004-2008 he was Secretary General of this organization and in the period 2006-2008 he was also junior staff at the Faculty of law in the area of EU law. In the years 2007-2008, he was working as a junior legal assistant for legislation approximation to the EU law on a project within the Ministry of interior of Macedonia. He can be reached at: [email protected] Dennis C. McCornac is currently Associate Professor of Economics at Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, Maryland. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the City University of New York Graduate School and specializes in the economies of East Asia. His teaching experience includes over thirteen years in Japan and six years in Vietnam. In 2000, he was a Fulbright Scholar to Vietnam and from 2003 to 2005 he was the Freeman Fellow Visiting Associate Professor of Economics and Asian Studies at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Dr. McCornac has published a number of articles on the Japanese and Vietnamese economies and has served as a consultant to the UNDP, SIDA, CIDA and PricewaterhouseCoopers. He can be reached at: [email protected] Pasi Sahlberg is Lead Education Specialist at the European Training Foundation (ETF), Torino, Italy. He received his Ph.D. in educational sciences in 1996 from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. He was previously teacher, teacher educator, policy-maker and director in various positions in Finland before moving to work with World Bank in Washington, DC. He has global experience in education policy analysis, training teachers and leaders, coaching schools to change and advising 157

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education policy-makers. He has published writings on educational change, school improvement and learning. His publications include “Rethinking accountability in a knowledge society (2009), “Education policies for raising student learning: The Finnish approach” (2007) and “Education reform for raising economic competitiveness” (2006). He is also Adjunct Professor at the University of Helsinki and an Assistant Editor of the Journal of Educational Change. He can be contacted by [email protected] or through www.pasisahlberg.com

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Volume 1 WOMEN’S UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES An International Handbook Francesca B. Purcell, Robin Matross Helms, and Laura Rumbley (eds.) ISBN 978-90-77874-58-5 hardback ISBN 978-90-77874-02-8 paperback Volume 2 PRIVATE HIGHER EDUCATION A Global Revolution Philip G. Altbach and D. C. Levy (eds.) ISBN 978-90-77874-59-2 hardback ISBN 978-90-77874-08-0 paperback Volume 3 FINANCING HIGHER EDUCATION Cost-Sharing in International Perspective D. Bruce Johnstone ISBN 978-90-8790-016-8 hardback ISBN 978-90-8790-015-1 paperback Volume 4 UNIVERSITY COLLABORATION FOR INNOVATION Lessons from the Cambridge-MIT Institute David Good, Suzanne Greenwald, Roy Cox, and Megan Goldman (eds.) ISBN 978-90-8790-040-3 hardback ISBN 978-90-8790-039-7 paperback Volume 5 HIGHER EDUCATION A Worldwide Inventory of Centers and Programs Philip G. Altbach, Leslie A. Bozeman, Natia Janashia, and Laura E. Rumbley ISBN 978-90-8790-052-6 hardback ISBN 978-90-8790-049-6 paperback Volume 6 FUTURE OF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC RESEARCH UNIVERSITY R. L. Geiger, C. L. Colbeck, R. L. Williams, and C. K. Anderson (eds.) ISBN 978-90-8790-048-9 hardback ISBN 978-90-8790-047-2 paperback Volume 7 TRADITION AND TRANSITION The International Imperative in Higher Education Philip G. Altbach

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ISBN 978-90-8790-054-4 hardback ISBN 978-90-8790-053-3 paperback Volume 8 THE PROFESSORIATE IN THE AGE OF GLOBALIZATION Nelly P. Stromquist ISBN 978-90-8790-084-7 hardback ISBN 978-90-8790-083-0 paperback Volume 9 HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEMS Conceptual Frameworks, Comparative Perspectives, Empirical Findings Ulrich Teichler ISBN 978-90-8790-138-7 hardback ISBN 978-90-8790-137-0 paperback Volume 10 HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE NEW CENTURY: GLOBAL CHALLENGES AND INNOVATIVE IDEAS Philip G. Altbach and Patti McGill Peterson (eds.) ISBN 978-90-8790-199-8 hardback ISBN 978-90-8790-198-1 paperback Volume 11 THE DYNAMICS OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENT CIRCULATION IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT Hans de Wit, Pawan Agarwal, Mohsen Elmahdy Said, Molatlhegi T. Sehoole, and Muhammad Sirozi (eds.) ISBN 978-90-8790-259-9 hardback ISBN 978-90-8790-258-2 paperback Volume 12 UNIVERSITIES AS CENTRES OF RESEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE CREATION: AN ENDANGERED SPECIES? Hebe Vessuri and Ulrich Teichler (eds.) ISBN 978-90-8790-479-1 hardback ISBN 978-90-8790-478-4 paperback Volume 13 HIGHER EDUCATION IN TURMOIL: THE CHANGING WORLD OF INTERNATIONALIZATION Jane Knight ISBN 978-90-8790-521-7 hardback ISBN 978-90-8790-520-0 paperback

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Volume 14 UNIVERSITY AND DEVELOPMENT IN LATIN AMERICA: SUCCESSFUL EXPERIENCES OF RESEARCH CENTERS Simon Schwartzman (ed.) ISBN 978-90-8790-524-8 hardback ISBN 978-90-8790-523-1 paperback Volume 15 BUYING YOUR WAY INTO HEAVEN: EDUCATION AND CORRUPTION IN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE Stephen P. Heyneman (ed.) ISBN 978-90-8790-728-0 hardback ISBN 978-90-8790-727-3 paperback

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